


Wooing the Ace

by bimmykimmy



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Probably ooc, awkward teenagers, everyone likes everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-01-19 00:04:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1447960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bimmykimmy/pseuds/bimmykimmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nishinoya is strong willed, determined, and obnoxious. But when it comes to romance, he falls short. Pun intended.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just Getting Started

"Ryuu, how do I confess my feelings to someone?"

Tanaka's movements froze; holding the rice bowl at his mouth. After a beat, he swallowed hard and placed the bowl down on the table. He closed his eyes and his expression turned dark. "Just what exactly do you take me for, huh?" Anger rumbled in hisvoice.

"Wait, what?"

"You're planning on seducing my precious angel, aren't you?! Yuu!!" Tanka's voice raised to an unneccesary volume as he grabbed Nishinoya roughly by the shirt. He brought him practically over the table, knocking over some side dishes. The pickled radish and other assorted vegetables slipped out of their bowls and onto the table. Nishinoya's chopsticks flew out of his hands; clanking quietly against the wooden surface. "How do you even have the confidence to speak with Kiyoko, haah?!"

Nishinoya's shirt bunched up as the raging, and most likely hormonal, teen yelled into his face. He could hear the fabric of his collar stretching, and it was one of his favorite shirts. It said "Kamen Rider," a classic honestly. So, he grabbed Tanaka's wrists and pulled, but it was no use. His monk-head of a friend's death grip was fueled by indescribable jealousy and was impossible to break. Nishinoya couldn't help but smirk though. He completely understood Tanaka's reaction, he would have the same, but unbeknownst to his friend this was an entirely different matter.

"What's with that expression? Are you looking for a fight?!" He gave Nishinoya a quick jolt, "I'm not afraid to ruin our friendship

over this!!"

Nishinoya let out a laugh so loud that it shook his shoulders, Tanaka loosened his grip a bit and blinked. "W-what's so funny?!" Then he said after a beat, "You wanna go?!"

His smaller friend laughed more, lifted a defensive hand to his face and shook his head, "No, no! Ryuu, you've got it all wrong. I would never be brave enough to try anything with our Lady Kiyoko."

Tanaka froze again, "O-oh," he loosened his grip a little more, "Then what--"

"I've just got someone else in mind, okay?"

"Yeah..."

"So, you'll tell me how, _right_?!"

Tanaka dropped Nishinoya, shoving him so he didn't fall straight onto the table. Instead, he simply plopped back down onto his chair, and sat there with a blank look on his face. After a moment, his eyes grew bright and he asked, "Is that a yes?"

Tanaka folded his arms and glared, "I won't give you a single bit of advice unless you tell me who it is!"

"Wha~at?" Nishinoya groaned and let his head fall onto the table with a loud thunk.

Tanaka laughed triumphantly and balled one hand in a fist while the other hand rested on his chest delicately "My word is gospel when it comes to the antics of women. So if you want it, you have to pay up!" Truth be told, Tanaka was simply bitter about the fact that his shorter friend could have a potential girl friend before _he_ did.

 _'There was no way a girl's out there and giving him the time of day! What would she even be like?'_ Tanaka thought furiously, but then shook his head thinking he'd be better off not imagining her.

"How about pay _ments_?" Nishinoya's tone escalted near the end of the sentence.

"What?"

Nishinoya lifted his head and his eyes continued to shine despite the harsh lookin' redness on his forehead, "Payments! You know, like a loan?"

Tanaka leaned back on the rear legs of his chair, narrowed his eyes like a crime boss, and pressed his finger tips together "Go on..." he said while gestering to his friend.

"For each bit of advice you give me, I'll give you a _hint_ at who it is!"

"Hmm," Tanaka stroked his non existant beard, "Flip that exchange rate around and you've got yourself a deal!"

Nishinoya pouted, but accepted the terms with a firm handshake. In all honesty, he was at his rope's end. He had tried everything in his knowledge at getting a certain individual's attention (mostly it was skillfully hidden under "needing someone to practice digging with" however) but it was to no avail. Probably because Nishinoya wasn't being as obvioius as he imagined, but there was no way he'd admit defeat like that. So, it was time to bring in the big guns. And what bigger gun existed than Tanaka Ryuunosuke? He had to be careful about his hints though, he may be strong willed, but even Nishinoya wasn't at the strength of revealing a crush such as this to his friend.

He had agreed to the deal, but he found himself speechless. Any attempt at words caught in his throat, and his heart felt like it was trying to break his ribcage.

Tanaka picked up his rice bowl again and began to stuff his face, "Well? Get goin'!" He said with a mouth full; sending bits of rice flying out. Nishinoya flicked at a grain of rice on the table, pursed his lips, and thought hard. Probably harder than when he studied. If. _If_ he studied.

He had to word this just right, if he was going to pull a fast one on his friend that is. Not that Tanaka was the smartest of people, but he was keen enough to catch a fib when it was improperly dilevered. So instead of blatantly lying, Nishinoya decided to be deliberately vague.

"The first hint is," Nishinoya let his eyes wander for a moment before finding Tanaka's, "They're older than us."

"Haah?! How old?! If it's my sister, I'll--"

Nishinoya raised a hand to silence his friend, which worked surprisingly well. "That was the hint," he said while he tapped his index finger on the table all business-like, "We did not agree on follow-up questions."

Tanaka scoffed but grumpily agreed. After eating another clump of rice he began talking. "Well, since this person is older, the key is to be noticed. If she doesn't even _see_ you, it's never gonna work."

Nishinoya nodded his understanding despite not really getting it at all.

"But because I'm not an idiot, I'm gonna assume she goes to our school. You don't talk to any of the Tokyo teams' managers and you don't do anything outside of volleyball, so there's no way you'd meet somebody outside our district, let alone our school."

The libero strained his expression in a mediocre attempt at hiding Tanaka's spot-on guess. He cleared his throat and picked up his own bowl of rice and chopsticks. He tilted the bowl to his mouth and scraped the food into his mouth; filling his cheeks like a chipmunk.

"Hah! I guessed it right, didn't I?" Nishinoya's eyebrow twitched at Tanaka's words, and he almost choked "Yes, points for me!" Tanaka laughed again and proudly chugged his water. "All right. Next hint!"

Nishinoya swallowed hard and the clumps of rice went heavily down his throat. He sighed, thought for a moment, and then spoke while shrugging his shoulders, "This person has long hair."

Tanaka slapped his palm on the table, "Oh, come on! That's not a hint! That barely narrows it down!"

The libero simply smirked. _'Of course it doesn't seem like a good hint. But it's actually the most obvious,'_ he thought.

Tanaka scoffed again and picked up his dishes, "If you aren't going to play by the rules, then I'm not gonna help you." He stood up and walked away despite Nishinoya's pleas and grabs at his ankles. He dragged his smaller friend halfway across the room before finally yelling, "Just find the right moment and tell her how you feel! Argh, you're such a pain." And with that, he kicked off Nishinoyaand walked into his kitchen.

Nishinoya laid there with his back on the floor, arms spread wide on either side of him. He stared up at the ceiling and chewed his bottom lip.  _'Just tell him how I feel, huh? Somehow, I feel like that's a lot easier said than done.'_ From the kitchen, Nishinoya heard the Tanaka siblings bicker like always; something to do with haircuts and ugly jeans. Nishinoya learned to tune them out months ago.

Similar to the determination he felt during matches, Nishinoya would not let his current predicament hold him back. He sat up promptly, slapped his cheeks, and smiled.

His quick rise startled Tanaka, who had just walked back in the room, and he let out a yelp. "Don't get up so suddenly like that! You're like the night of the living dead."

"...be fine..." Nishinoya mumbled.

Tanaka knelt down next to his smaller friend, placing a hand near his ear. "Hah?"

Nishinoya clentched his fists and spoke with vigor, "It'll be fine!" He yelled, startling Tanaka again and causing him to fall back onto his butt. "I just gotta find the right moment, right?! Easy!!"

 

~~~~~

 

It was not easy.

As perfectly timed his digs were in a match, his timing in life left much to be desired. An entire week had passed already, and he was nowhere closer than he was before asking for Tanaka's help. At this rate, his crush would graduate before he can say anything.

Nishinoya crouched on the court; mind wandering as the drills around him played out. How could he find the right moment? What exactly _was_ the right moment? He's gotta get noticed right? That was the key. How does one get noticed? Was there a pamphlet for this sort of thing? Was this even a good idea to begin with? What if he was just confused and hormonal? Maybe he was in a coma? Yeah, that's prob--

"Yo, Noya! Heads up!" was all he heard before a served ball to the cranium blasted him out of his daze. He fell back with a loud "Geh!" and landed on the cold, wooden gym floor. He laid there sprawled on his back, and eyes closed. He heard the squeak of sneakers all come running as his teammates crowded around him.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Is he alive?"

"Do you think he's bleeding internally?!"

"He probably deserved it; his eyes were glazed over like he was deep in thought. Probably spacing out like an idiot."

"Shh, Tsukki that's mean! What if he's really hurt?"

"Yeah, your jump serve is probably hard enough to kill a man, Kageyama."

"Shut up! It wasn't _that_ bad. I made sure it's speed decreased before it landed!"

"He still isn't moving..."

"Oi, Asahi, do you know cpr?"

"W-what?! Why would you ask _me_ that?"

"You've been in lots of life or death situations, right?"

"What?! No! Oh my God."

The seemingly unconscious libero suddenly got a very excellent idea; well, _he_ thought it was excellent...

The ball, like Kageyama had said, really wasn't that fast so it sounded worse than it actually hurt. But, it was as if the angels of good fortune had had enough of his torment, and gave him a perfect window of opportunity.

He turned on his side and groaned. Holding his hands up to hishead and cringing, Nishinoya utilized any acting abilities he may have picked up in his elementary school Christmas pagents. "Ow, ow, ow. It's like a pitchfork in my brain." He kept his eyes shut tight, but he heard a gutteral sound of disbelief from Kageyama.

No doubt he was shocked at this news since Nishinoya was in absolutely no _real_ pain. He did not have any time to lose before the setter caught on, though. "I think I need to go lay down," he opened his eyes slowly only to be greeted by a suspicious glare from Kageyama. "Can, uh, someone walk with me?" He quickly glanced sideways towards his crush; an involuntary action to which Kageyama mimicked with confusion.

"What are--" Kageyama narrowed his eyes as they flashed back towards Nishinoya, but he was cut off by the captain. Sawamura stepped in, softly pushing Kageyama aside, and helped Nishinoya sit up, "Sure sure. Shimizu, please walk with him to the nurse."

At the same time of Tanaka and Hinata's outrageous yell of a reaction, Nishinoya felt a stab at his chest. 'FAILURE' his brain screamed. Kageyama simply narrowed his eyes again and turned to go back to the other side of the net. Nishinoya smiled sheepishly, but before he could even voice a suggestion, the team manager was helping him up and they were walking out of the gym. He couldn't help but sigh. _'Not the right moment either, huh.'_

Before Shimuzu closed the door behind them, he took a peak back into the gym. His eyes grew wide as he saw the team's Ace, who was also (not surprisingly) his crush, stare worriedly back at him. The door seemed like an iron wall slamming shut, cutting off their eye contact before Nishinoya could really register what he saw.

That was a bit too much worry, wasn't it? No, he was imagining things, definitely.

 

~~~~~

  
The nurse had been kind enough to let Nishinoya lay in the infirmary for a while until his imaginary headache subsided. Sawamura had stopped by to check on him too; which didn't help the small pit of guilt that bubbled in his gut. But Nishinoya couldn't let his little acting debut get noticed, so he had to fake it till practice ended.

Back at his house, the libero laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. His music was loud enough to drown out the sounds of his bickering grandparents, but not loud enough to clear his head of annoying, pestering thoughts.

Was his crush's face really full of worry or was Nishinoya's embarrassing desire causing him to hallucinate now?

His stomach growled in both hunger and discomfort as he turned onto his side. It had been 6 months since he first realized his admiration and dedication towards the team's ace was more than just that, and his sanity had really taken a toll because of it. To be honest, he didn't even _want_ to have these feelings, and yet, here they were! Loud and obnoxious as ever; tugging at the back of his mind day in and day out. Egging him on to do something about it, but his pride and fear telling him otherwise.

"Argh!" He grunted, frustrated at his internal struggle. "I'm a boy in my second year of highschool , I shouldn't have to deal with this kind of thing!"

As true as that was, Nishinoya couldn't deny the overwhelming urge to finally just let the cat out of the bag. He had originally told himself to ignore his fluttering heart; it was just a fluke. The moment he had realized it was during a practice, so he figured it was just being caught in the moment. But six months and counting, it was still going steadily, and his feelings had only grown stronger. By this point, it was getting harder and harder to conceal them. A typical slap on the back and "good job" was now causing the libero cardiac distress. He thought going to Tanaka and asking how to confess would be the answer. Instead, it just caused a whole new obstacle to overcome.

Nishinoya turned again onto his back and slapped his hands onto his mattress. "I like you!" He yelled loudly. "I like you, I like you, I like you, I LIKE YOU!" With each outburst he smacked his mattress harder and harder. "Azumane Asahi, I like you!"

"Yuu?" His mother's voice called through the door with a small knock. "Are you all right?"

Nishinoya squirmed, crawled, and rushed to turn down his music, "Y-yeah! Sorry, Mom!"

"A school mate of yours is here," she continued as she opened her son's door. Completely ignoring his whining scoff of a complaint. "He said you got hurt today? Why didn't you say anything?"

Nishinoya simply shrugged and scooted to the edge of his bed.

His mother folded her arms worriedly across her chest, "Honestly. What kind of trouble are you getting into? Having such a shady looking friend...I hope he's not stealing anything downstairs..."

And with that she turned and left the room. Her words, though vague, were enough to cause Nishinoya's stomach to flip. He was frozen on the edge of his bed, hands gripping the comforter tightly.  
   
It wasn't. Was it?

He jumped off his bed and bolted out of his room towards the stairs; speeding past his mother who called his name in confusion. He stopped suddenly when he heard an all-too-familiar voice downstairs.

"N-no, honestly! I just like my hair this long, it's not a religious thing or-"

"Oh, really then? Tch, kids these days think it's fine just walkin' around looking like some sort of thug. Don't they have you stay clean shaven at school anymore?!" His grandpa was interrogating his poor team mate, and Nishinoya couldn't help but snicker. He paused a moment and leaned on the knool post; simply listening to the sound of his voice. His mother passed him and placed a gentle hand on his lower back momentarily before going down the stairs. With a sigh (not certain if it was in defeat or something else), Nishinoya stomped down the stairs after her.

"Yo!" He greeted Azumane with a smile and a salute. His older friend stood up quickly from his seat on the living room couch and bowed quickly before practically running away from Gramps.

"Keepin' my eye on you," the old man said before Nishinoya's grandma finally hushed the grump.

"Come on up," the libero said with a jerk of his head. He waited as Azumane walked past him and up the stairs. Pausing to look at his mother, who suddenly smiled much too widely, Nishinoya felt a faint heat fill his cheeks.

"Don't say a _word_ ," he mumbled to his mom.

She pressed her finger to her lips and winked before walking away into the kitchen.

Sometimes he hated how intuitive she could be.

 

~~~~~

  
The two sat across from each other in Nishinoya's room. Azumane was sitting on the desk chair backwards, resting his chin on his arms. Nishinoya was lying on his bed, hanging his head and arms over the edge.

"I had a feeling you were faking it," the ace said with a laugh, "The ball didn't even make that big of a sound when it hit."

"Yeah, right. I had you and every one else fooled. I saw your face!" Nishinoya retorted as he slid down into a hand stand.

"Uh, y-yeah..." Azumane fell silent for a moment and Nishinoya was suddenly very aware of the sound of cicadas outside. He couldn't help but feel his face flush once again; it was a good thing he was upside down.

"So, um," He began feeling like he should fill the silence.

"Why'd you do it, anyways? It's not like you to just slack off in practice like that." Azumane asked quietly.

"Uhh," Nishinoya felt his heart skip a beat as he frantically thought of an excuse, but his mind came up empty. He let his legs fall and he laid there on his floor next to his bed.

After a few moments, he finally spoke. "I needed time to think."

"Hm," Azumane hummed and got off the chair. Without any words, he sat down next to Nishinoya and laid back. "I've been

doing some thinking too, lately."

Nishinoya made an indifferent noise, but his stomach was doing flips. Azumane was dangerously close, and it was all Nishinoya could do to make sure he kept breathing.

"I wanted to talk about it with the others, but they told me to shut up."

"I'm sure that was a wise decision." Despite his sarcastic response, Nishinoya could've sworn his voice trembled right then. There was no way he was going to make it through this conversation.

Azumane laughed and smacked Nishinoya's stomach. "Listen!" He sat up and looked down at his team mate. "I'm a third year and I don't have _that_ much time left before I graduate..." His voice got soft, as if he changed his mind mid sentence.

Nishinoya chewed on his lower lip nervously as he watched Azumane's eyes grow vacant. After a short moment, the ace continued solemly, "I guess it just never really hit me until just recently." His eyes looked away from Nishinoya "But, ah, but I'mgonna miss this."

"This?" the libero shifted to rest his weight on his forearms and elbows.

"W-well, y'know, like," Aumane hurriedly spoke to recover, "Like our team and stuff."

"Ah, yeah." It wasn't as if he was disappointed, but Nishinoya could've sworn that Azumane was going somewhere else with that statement. Regardless, that little bit of opening up suddenly caused any uneasiness Nishinoya had had to disappear. He smiled and laid back down on the carpet. "Have you thought about a university yet?"

"Don't even mention that," Azumane sighed and turned on his side to face Nishinoya, "My parents have been hounding me about it...I don't even think I'm going to go to uni."

Nishinoya wanted with every fiber of his being to turn and face Azumane, but he feared the worst. Instead, he stayed on his back, staring resolutely at the ceiling. "Well, it's better that they do. Going to college is a, um, good investment in your future or something. Gramps told me that once before smacking me with newspaper." He heard his heartbeat in his ears and his chest felt tight. He grew very quiet, and they laid there for quite some time.

Azumane shfited a bit as he laid, causing Nishinoya's heart to jump.

This was not good. Not good, at all. Very bad.

Shit.

_Shit._

"Hey," Azumane mumbled as he propped himself up on an elbow. He stared at the libero intently, "Look at me for a minute."

 _'No, no I can't look. I really shouldn't. If I do...'_ Nishinoya thought desperately.

"Hey, Yuu," he repeated louder.

_'No no no! Don't make me turn towards you. You'll regret it, I swear.'_

"Yuu." He said sternly, pinched Nishinoya's cheeks, and turned his face towards him. This caused Nishinoya to yelp, as embarrassing as that was. He stared up at Azumane with his cheeks scrunched and his lips squished into a fishy look.

Azumane's eyes stared deeply into his but neither of them spoke a word. Nishinoya felt his heart go nuts in his rib cage; any more and he feared it would _shoryuken_  its way out of his chest. His face felt like fire, and no doubt the ace would notice because it was probably getting pink.

"W-what," Nishinoya said through his squished expression.

Azumane smiled; however, it seemed a bit eerie, and he leaned close. "Why have you been avoiding me?" He said throughclentched teeth.

Nishinoya blinked multiple times, processing what was just said. "Eh?" was what he so intricately responded.

Azumane clicked his tongue, let go of Nishinoya's cheeks, and sat up. "Don't play dumb," he said in an annoyed tone, "This past week you've practically run away from me every time I'm near."

Nishinoya sat up, rubbing his cheeks. "What are you talking about? I haven't..." But then it hit him. All the times he'd wanted to confess, he'd gotten too nervous or shy or the stars weren't in the correct position--so he'd often retreated. Of course, to an outside bystander,  that would definitely be suspicious behavior.

"Oh." He said blankly.

"Yeah! See?" Azumane crossed his arms, "you little brat."

The libero smirked and couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved. Why had he been so nervous around his friend all week? Things were the same--it was _himself_ who was thinking way too deeply into stuff. "My bad," Nishinoya said, "It's just that, I was trying to find the right moment." _'Crap'_ he instantly thought. Damn his word vomit and lack of brain cells. He pinned his lips tightly together; eyes going wide.

"The right moment?" Azumane repeated and looked at his friend inquisitively. Nishinoya would've fainted if it weren't for his _totally_ cool demeanor.

"Y-yeah, um, psssh, you know," he knew his face was getting red again, so he quickly picked up the Volleyball Monthly magazine that was convieniently under his bed, thus within his reach. He opened it up and not-so-discreetly covered his face. "The right moment to," he drew out the word as his mind desperately searched for a convincing reason, "tell you about these totally cool shoes I'm getting!" He flipped the magazine around, pulled it tightly open, and practically shoved it into Azumane's face.

_'Nailed it.'_

"Oh, ah, nice," the ace said a bit weakly as his nose _smooshed_ against the paper, "but those are nets."

"Huh?" Nishinoya pulled the magazine away and turned it around. Yep, it was indeed a page of different nets and court designs, and it was upside down. "Well...how about that?"

Azumane gently took the magazine away from his friend, tugging it out of his grasp and tossing it onto his bed. Nishinoya quickly averted his gaze; knowing full well his face was beet red by now. Of all the embarrassing habits he'd picked up since realizing his feelings, this blushing thing had got to be the worst.

"I'm moving away and needed to find the right moment to tell you."

"Right, so that's why you hid in the janitor's closet during lunch."

"Um, I..." he punched his thighs lightly as his brain wracked for another stupid excuse, "want to get a dog and need to ask you

what his name should be!"

"And that requires you to jump behind the ball bin when we had to choose salt and pepper partners?"

"I'm dying!"

"Dude," Azumane laughed exhaustedly, "you're really bad at this."

"At what?"

Azumane crossed his legs, turned, and leaned forward, pressing his lips softly against Nishinoya's. An action to which Nishinoya jumped backwards against his bed and slapped his palm over his mouth; eyes wide in disbelief.

Azumane's own eyes went wide and his mouth morphed into a worried frown. "Oh my--oh my God," he raised a weak hand and his cheeks turned pink, "I-I'm sorry! I just, it's just that, I thought you, oh my God."

Inside, Nishinoya was screaming and jumping and celebrating. This was the absolute best thing that could've ever happened to him! His crush, the one he's desperately fawned over for 6 whole months, kissed _him!_ It was Christmas!

On the outside however, he was still, silent, and stared blankly forward. His initial reaction and now silence did nothing but worsen the already timid ace's anxiety.

Mere seconds passed by before Azumane shot up to his feet and hastily said, "I should go," and bolted out of Nishinoya's room.

Before Nishinoya's synapses could reconnect, he heard Azumane already saying thank you to his mom and grandparents and

heading out the door.

"Leaving so soon, hah?" His grandpa yelled, "I knew the police could track you if you stay put for too long!"

"S-sorry." He heard Azumane holler, though shyly, before the sound of the front door closing.

The libero let his hand drop to his side and he stared at his open bedroom door.

"This is a dream," he mumbled, "This isn't real life at all. This--" he suddenly let reality (and quite possibly himself) smack him in the face and he jumped up, "No, wait, no! Come back!" He ran out of his room and hurried down the stairs. At it's base stood his mother who's worried look went from the front door to him.

It was too late. Azumane Asahi was long gone by now; bookin' it down the streets. Nishinoya sighed and plopped down onto the 3rd to last stair.

"Your friend left so suddenly," his mother said softly, "I was going to bring you some snacks."

"Thanks, Ma." Nishinoya smiled at his mom, but it quickly fell when he looked at the door again and sighed. "I totally messed up. Argh, I wish I wasn't such an idiot. _The_ literal best thing could've happened, but no. I butchered it like the nimrod I am!" He stood up and stomped up the stairs before his mother could say a word.

She cringed when she heard his door slam. "Oh, Yuu. Getting involved with a yakuza is only ever going to bring you heartbreak." She let her gaze fall towards a photo hanging on the wall. She smiled gently, but it was softened with sadness. "I should know."

 

~~~~~

 

Nishinoya walked to school in a cloudy haze. He thought he remembered running into the flower shop owner, but it was all a blur. He shrugged his shoulder to shift his book bag strap and sighed.

He hadn't gotten any sleep. How could he have? When something like _that_ happens, one does not so easily drift into unconsciousness. Of course, Nishinoya wished his case of insomnia was from excitement alone, but we all know that wasn't quite true.

"Why didn't I say anything?" he mumbled to his feet as he kicked at some loose concrete on the sidewalk. "Idiot."

Nishinoya let his legs take him steadily to school; taking the usual route. Before he knew it, he was stopped in front of the entrance.

He blinked a few times and looked up.

"Nishinoya!" Hinata's voice boomed over the chatty students. The libero started a bit, being pulled fully out of his trance. "Yo! How are you feelin'?" The red head locked his bike and bounced up to him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Nishinoya flashed Hinata his toothy grin and flexed. "Nothin' can take me down!"

"Except my serve, apparently," Kageyama's montoned voice cut into the conversation from behind them. They turned and looked up at the setter, whose face was frozen in his usual scowl.

"Good morning to you too," Hinata retorted.

Kageyama scoffed and turned his glare towards Nishinoya. His expression softened ever so slightly, but he still practically spoke through clenched teeth. "How's your head?"

"Fine, fine! Now show your senpai some respect and skedattle. First years should be the ones opening the gym."

Hinata turned to leave, but Kageyama stayed frozen. His eyes narrowed even more than usual. "Why did my serve hurt you..." he mumbled. Hinata rolled his eyes and grabbed Kageyama by his elbows.

"All right we get it already," he said as he steered the resisting setter away, "come on, your highness."

"I told you not to call me that!" Kageyama grumbled as he gave up pushing against Hinata's leading.

"Right, right! Okay, your majesty."

"Shut up!"

Nishinoya watched the two walk away bickering and sighed. He'd probably never have that again with Azumane.

"Idiot," he mumbled an insult to himself before walking towards the locker room.

 

~~~~~

 

Hinata kept his hold on the setter, despite the nagging and complaining, until they were inside the gym. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were already inside, rolling out the ball carts.

"Let's grab the nets," Hinata stated as he let go of Kageyama and slapped him on the back. He practically skipped towards the other end of the gym, and Kageyama followed his enthusiastic teammate without a word.

Hinata opened the supply closet and lept inside to trigger the light sensors on. It wasn't necessary to jump, they'd turn on just by walking in. But Hinata wasn't one for subtely.

Together they grabbed the poles, cushions, and netting and placed them all just outside the door. Hinata rolled out the extra ball cart before closing the door behind him. "I wonder why Nishinoya faked getting hurt," he remarked bluntly.

Kageyama made a surprised noise, "Y-you think so too?!" His eyebrows pinched in and his frown grew stronger, if that was even possible.

Hinated simply shrugged and picked up his half of the folded net.

"Cuz there's no way it'd hurt since I made sure it decelerated before impact!" Kageyama continued despite Hinata's disinterest. "It wasn't even--"

"Do you think he just wanted to be alone with Shimizu?" The small redhead interrupted. His eyes looked out into the gym with a sort of thoughtful distance.

"Maybe," Kageyama said as they walked back towards the main gym, "but I think he..."

"He what?"

"Nothing, never mind."

Hinata yanked at the net which caused Kageyama to falter in his step. He straightened up and glared at the shorty. "What the heck?!"

"I don't like when you're all secretive and independent. Tell me."

"Why should I?" Kageyama let his half of the net go and he began to drag it across the court, spreading it out and untangling it. He walked backwards and smirked at his teammate.

"Because I wont let you kiss me for a week." Hinated said, his expression unchanging. He turned away and began walking back to the supply closet to get the poles.

Kageyama froze; his eye twitching ever so slightly. He wouldn't admit it, but his face warmed up just enough for a small tint of pink to flush his cheeks. "Who says I want to?" He attempted to keep his composure, but his voice cracked on the last word.

Hinata simply lifted his hand and waved over his shoulder, "You did it before, during training in Tokyo."

"That was _one_ time!"

"And it'll stay that way if you don't spill it~" Hinata sung and began to walk back to the supply closet. He smirked when he heard Kageyama's sneakers squeak as he took off after him.

"Okay, okay, wait." When Hinata turned to face him, Kageyama averted his gaze. He frowned, feeling defeated and embarrassed, and scratched his arm. "It's just that, Nishinoya looked over at Azumane for a moment. And it was...I dunno...like he was disappointed or something?"

"That's it?"

"Shut up, yes that's it! I don't know if I even saw it correctly. All I know is he definitely faked being hurt, and he looked weird at him."

Hinata hummed in thought and nodded. The two continued with set up, highlighted with their usual bickering and teasing.

Off to the side, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi blankly stared.

"It's like we're invisible..." Yamaguchi whispered, snickering at what they've just overheard. He brought his eyes down to the ball in his hands and debated on throwing it towards the two oblivious idiots.

Tsukishima simply scoffed, uninterested, and mumbled, "Ennoshita owes me lunch for a week."

"You still had that stupid bet going?"

"It's not stupid if you know you're betting on the winning side."

 

~~~~~

 

Nishinoya pulled his shirt over his head, quickly running his hands in his hair to smooth it back out (or up.) He let out a sigh, and he had a feeling it wasn't going to be the last one of the morning.

Practice started in just fifteen minutes, and he wasn't entirely sure if he was emotionally prepared.

"Arg, what the hell," He grumbled and slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. He slammed his locker, twisting the lock quickly and turning on his heel. "Into battle!"


	2. Walking on Eggshells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Azumane's kiss leaves Nishinoya breathless and thoughtless, and it affects the entire team too. That's where Sugawara comes in to help...sort of.

  
 Nishinoya found it unsurprisingly difficult to focus on anything other than Azumane once he left the locker room and entered the gym. Every movement, every gesture, every word he spoke (as rare as that was) were stealing every fiber of focus Nishinoya had. The libero was hyper-aware of his presence, more so than ever, and it made dealing with this whole mess that much more difficult. Of course, it also didn't help that Azumane seemed to be completely avoiding him in every sense of the word. Hell. Nishinoya was in hell. Whatever fortune, or luck, or pleasant feeling he may have had in the past were now long gone; forever out the window and probably somewhere in Albuquerque laughing at his misery.

 

~~~~~

 

If it weren't for the crushing weight of embarrassment, Nishinoya would have thought Azumane's tactics humorous. Subtlety was not his forte, and his transparently obvious discomfort was actually kind of endearing.

The team jogged around the courts a couple times to warm up their muscles, and Azumane stayed well out of talking range. Then, when Sawamura called them all in for stretches, Nishinoya promptly noted that the ace sat himself as far away as humanly possible. Even when it was time for partner warm-ups, the brief eye contact they had was quickly, almost violently, interrupted when Azumane hurried over to Ennoshita with a rather crazed look in his eye. Before Nishinoya had time to feel hurt (which would’ve been completely hypocritical seeing as he had done the e _xact_ same thing not two days prior), Tanaka threw a strong arm around his shoulder.

"You're with me!" He laughed and guided--more like forced--the libero to sit down.

_'You complete and useless idiot,'_ Nishinoya internally screamed as he wordlessly followed Tanaka's lead, _'You messed up. You totally messed_ everything _up. This is all your fault. He probably hates you now.'_

Despite this self loathing, an ever-so-small warmth crept up through his chest. Nishinoya stretched out his legs in front of him and leaned forward, reaching out to his toes. He couldn’t help but lift his eyes up, gazing through his lashes at the ace's back (oh-so-conveniently facing him.) There was a slight, lonely tingle on his lips that had touched Azumane's just one stupid sunrise ago, and he subconsciously let his tongue graze them.

"I'm not going easy on you!" Tanaka teased with a slap to Nishinoya's back, quickly jolting him out of his reverie. He kind of bit his tongue too, ouch.

"Bring it on!" Nishinoya retorted over his shoulder with his usual toothy grin, hopefully masking his somber mood. "I'm more flexible than an owl!"

"Dude, that makes no sense..."

 

~~~~~

 

Once stretching was done, then warm-ups, and they got into routine, Nishinoya found it a bit easier to ignore the ace's distance. The loud sounds of practice quickly drowned out any of his previous discerning thoughts. Shoes pounded against the wooden floor, sending echoes up to the high ceiling. Sawamura called out once or twice for the team to be louder, to which they all responded with pretty obnoxious hoots and hollers. Typical high school behavior that irked the captain.

"I meant calling for the ball, you nimrods!" Sawamura scolded as he pelted the ball towards Tanaka.

“Why me?!” The buzz cut complained, but was only pegged with another volleyball in response.

 

~~~~~

 

Despite yesterday's events still potently lingering above Nishinoya, practice went about with no real issues. It was all okay now that he could get over the whole avoiding him thing. At least, that's what he got the impression of. Little did he know, his teammates exchanged rather confused glances every so often.

To put it lightly, Nishinoya wasn't exactly on par. It was blatantly evident that yesterday's disaster was not only affecting him emotionally, but physically. Regret is a powerful deterrent, and while Nishinoya was a strong person, he wasn't immune to its power.

He kept having little blunders here and there. Then he actually tripped over his own feet, causing him to stumble into Hinata who then dominoed into Kageyama, and the three came crashing to the ground.

“Get off of me, you fungus!” Kageyama grumbled as he pushed his palm into Hinata, who scrambled on top of him and effectively tangled their limbs. Everyone thought it better not to comment on the growing redness on Kageyama’s cheeks.

Nishinoya barrel rolled out of the pile and jogged back to his spot on the court.

Now, errors in sports are a given, they happen all the time and are essential for growth. This is simply common sense. But when Nishinoya's mess ups weren't coupled with throaty groans or threats to inanimate objects, the team quite easily noticed something was up.

 

~~~~~

 

Sugawara eyed the libero thoughtfully when the team shifted in exercises. At the sound of Coach's whistle, Kageyama situated himself at the net and waited for Yamaguchi's toss.

"Psst, Daichi," Sugawara tugged on the captain's sleeve as they waited for their go. Sawamura turned his focus toward him; arms crossed and brow furrowed.

"You noticed it too?" He commented after sharing a moment with the setter's gaze. They hardly ever needed words.

Sugawara gave a curt nod. His eyes glazed with almost motherly worry as he glanced back through the net at Nishinoya.

They were doing a spiking drill, so Nishinoya was placed by himself on the other side of the net as his teammates took turns hitting. Their attacks weren't difficult to receive, usually, but when Nishinoya's eyes found their focus just beyond the net, it was like blinders were put on his vision.

Azumane stood in the center line, teeth worrying at his lower lip and eyes darting around nervously. He bounced on the balls of his feet, and he swung his arms lazily at his sides to prepare himself.

Nishinoya watched him closely, becoming once again entranced by the ace's form. His tall frame, his loosely pulled back pony, his totally lame and not cute tuft of hair at his chin; everything about him kept Nishinoya’s attention.

Nishinoya was in deep. Much _much_ too deep. This was bad.

But was it really all bad?

Azumane _had_ kissed him after all. That had to mean something significant, right? What if...what if Azumane liked Nishinoya?

No, what if he _liked_ liked him?!

Everything seemed to go silent when Nishinoya's mind debated it out. He watched Azumane's lips move, calling out to get a toss, but he heard nothing. To this day Nishinoya would dispute it, but right then his lids grew heavy, and he let a breathy sigh ghost through his smiling lips.

"Back, back back," Hinata yelped suddenly as he shuffled his feet forward; deciding right then and there he wanted the toss. His arms flew behind him and he jumped, sending Kageyama's quickly shifted back-toss over the net right at Nishinoya.

Luckily, the ball collided loudly with his poorly clasped hands, causing them to part instantly, and it went flying back over the net in poor form. The sudden impact thoroughly rocked Nishinoya out of his stupor. He blinked rapidly, trying to regain focus, and that’s when he noticed everyone from the other side of the net was staring.

With all eyes on him, Nishinoya suddenly felt very exposed. Despite himself, he felt his face heat up.

"W-what? _Whattaya want?"_   He tried for cool and threatening, but it came out weak and, yes, his voice cracked.

"Dude," Tanaka bellowed, lifting the net to duck under it, "Are you even paying attention?"

"What? Yes. Of course I am, don't be stupid."

"What was with that swooning sigh?" Ennoshita commented with a teasing grin. Nishinoya attempted a rebuttal, but was cut off by the captain.

"Is everything okay?" Sawamura asked. He too ducked under the net, and soon everyone--save a _certain_ member--joined him.

"Oi, oi," Coach Ukai called in a more than annoyed tone from the bench. His conversation with Takeda abruptly halted when he saw the boys gather rather than practice. "What's the hold up?"

They did not even flinch at his voice, and all continued to hone in their attention at Nishinoya.

"You were staring at Azumane just now," Hinata blurted. There was no tease in his voice, just plain bluntness he was so (in)famously known for.

Nishinoya practically felt his heart sink to his butt, and his teeth clamped painfully. Unconsciously, his eyes darted to Azumane, and so everyone else's gaze followed suit.

It was as if their heads turned in slow motion, and Nishinoya seriously fought the urge to yell "Noooo!"

He couldn't do this. Not to Azumane. Not when he could maybe sorta possibly _like_ like him!

This was too much.

The ace’s posture stiffened and his eyes went wide under everyone's questioning looks. It was almost comedic how he stood solo on the west side of the net, but now was not the time for hilarity. A soft pink painted his cheekbones, and his arms pressed tightly to his sides. "U-um, hi," was what he decided to say.

In that instant, Nishinoya felt his fight or flight instincts kick in, and he promptly chose flight. The team let out a splurge of surprised noises when the libero blew past them and high tailed it out of the gym. He slid the door closed with a loud bang, and the impact caused it to creep open again. His footsteps echoed softer and softer until all was still.

The team stood in awestruck silence, except for the lone ball bouncing from Tsukishima (who honestly couldn't care less about the whole ordeal, so he just started to practice serving).

"Um, okay?" Ennoshita was the first to break the silence.

"What the heck was that about?" Hinata chimed.

"Oh, boy. This isn't good, they aren't doing it right." Sugawara mumbled, not intending for anyone to hear but himself.

"He looked kinda constipated or something when he was staring..." Yamaguchi added uselessly.

"That wasn't constipation, you idiot," Tsukishima corrected despite his disinterest. He tossed the volleyball lazily, pulled his elbow up and back, but let the ball fall to the ground in a small, bouncy thump. _Damn_ , messed up on his form again. Practice harder.

"Should we have made another bet?" Ennoshita laughed towards Tsukishima, who just shrugged and tossed the ball again to serve.

After that, everyone--once again in tragically perfect timing--turned back to Azumane. He started at the shift of attention, and he could feel a cold sweat begin to bead on his forehead. "U-uh, um, all right, okay, there's a really good explanation here," he tried, "a-and..uh. Okay--"

"Spill it," Sawamura interrupted in that distinct tone that sent chills up everyone's spines, "After practice." He added as an afterthought. Rightfully so, since Coach Ukai stood up and practically threw chairs at all of them; calling them lazy and "hoodlums."

They went back to their practice routine, but the atmosphere was definitely difficult to work with. Everyone's eyes seemed to focus on the ace rather than the ball, and it quickly led to all sorts of otherwise easily avoidable errors. Coach dismissed them early in an aggravated huff, and told them all to "be prepared to do suicides until they barfed" that afternoon.

 

~~~~~

 

Nishinoya's heart pumped wildly in his chest, and he pressed his palm to it as he caught his breath. The walkway was empty at this point in the morning, so he hadn't bothered to slow down his sprint at all. Though, even if there had been teachers, he probably wouldn’t have stopped.

The wall felt cool on his back, sweat dripped down it from both practice and his sudden outburst of energy. Just to his right, the baseball club’s fountains sat unused, and they were very tempting at this point.

“This is ridiculous,” he scoffed and kicked his heel to the wall. “It was just a stupid kiss. It’s not like it meant anything. He probably was joking or something...and then with my reaction, no wonder he’s all embarrassed today.”

Nishinoya pushed off the cement and turned sharply, trotting over to the fountains. He called himself an idiot for even considering Azumane having a crush as well. High school boys did stupid stuff like that all the time; teasing and messing around with each other. It was his own stupid fault that things were like this. He couldn’t keep his irrational feelings under control. If he had just laughed it off and slapped Azumane in the face with a pillow, then things would be so dramatically different. 

When Nishinoya’s hand turned the metal bar and the stream came to life, pouring out the cool promise of refreshment, he simply dunked his forehead into it. The water was cold, shocking, but also soothing. He quickly felt his temperature lower, and his thoughts began to settle as well.

With a contented sigh, he shifted his head so the water sprayed against his flush cheeks, and then finally grabbed some in his mouth as well. He sloshed it around and spat it back into the fountain drain--which he would probably get yelled at for doing, but no one was around so, _meh_.

“There’s nothing to be so awkward about. It’s fine." He grabbed the collar of his shirt and used it to wipe his face. "This whole thing can blow right over and we can go back to being bros.” He spoke in a definite tone as he straightened up and made his way back to the now empty locker room.

And that was that, he’d decided. Just pretend nothing happened.

That worked out all the time, right?

He could harbor his massive crush...plus the fact that they had kissed...and still be friends, right?

_Right?!_

 

~~~~~

 

The teacher’s mouth moved unexcitingly and his eyes were fixed to the book as he read aloud, but Azumane’s hearing felt muffled. His entire body was on another frequency, and he was a ghost to everyone. Of course, he still had his foreboding aura about him that caused younger classmen to shiver in their shoes when he walked past in the hallways, but it was slightly dampened today. At least enough so that when he helped a first year pick up his dropped books, the kid actually smiled instead of cried.

Azumane now rested his chin in his hand and let his eyes wander out the window. The sky, he noticed, was a bright blue gradient today and he wished he could actually appreciate its aesthetic, but instead he sighed solemnly. This whole ordeal with Nishinoya was taking a toll on his poor glass heart, and he wasn’t so sure it could handle anymore stress.

_‘Why did I do that?’_ he thought, _‘What the heck possessed me to_ kiss _him? That’s so weird. He probably hates me now…’_

His mind’s eye flashed back to Nishinoya from that morning. He had seemed out of it, clumsily so, and it gave Azumane a nauseous feeling knowing that he was probably the cause of it. If only he had kept his big stupid fat lips to himself, then none of this would be happening.

There was just something about the way Nishinoya acted though, and Azumane was no stranger to reading body language. He dealt with people feeling tense around him 24/7, so when he noticed it in Nishinoya, it had concerned him. Then, he supposed, one thing led to another, and he just had the impression that kissing him was the right thing to do.

_‘Stupid,’_ his inner voice reprimanded.

His body had moved on its own, like he had been caught up in the moment. Though, Azumane couldn’t deny the fact that those soft lips pressed against his sent series of chills up his spine. Of course, he could never admit this to Nishinoya. No way. That’d be…

Azumane sighed and closed his eyes.

He could have played it off as a joke. _Haha, fooled you! You let your defenses down!_ That kind of thing.

Yeah, right.

Wait, it _had_ been a joke, though. Hadn’t it? Wasn’t that his original subconscious decision? It wasn’t as if he _wanted_ to kiss him or something.

But then Nishinoya had bounced back so suddenly, with those wide eyes and red face, and Azumane had felt his entire body go numb. He hadn’t known what to say…what _could_ he have said?! Nothing really; not without sounding like a complete fool. So, running was what he had decided to do.

Not such a great choice in hindsight.

The ace sighed again and was about to drop his head to his desk when he felt something small and light bounce against his cheek. He flinched a bit, startled by the sudden prick to his skin, and turned away from the window to see what the cause was.

Sugawara was turned toward him, his hands placed on his desk where he had just flicked the paper wad. Not a moment later, he leaned Azumane’s way with a hand cupped to his mouth.

“I can help you,” he whispered with that soft smile he always adorned. “If you need it.”

Azumane scrunched his eyebrows, shifted his worried gaze to the teacher out of instinct, and then back at the setter. He leaned over and whispered back. “With the lesson?”

Sugawara’s smiled grew bigger, and it touched his eyes so they squinted ever-so-slightly. He shook his head softly and leaned in further. “With Nishinoya. You guys are dating now, right?”

The noise that came from deep within Azumane’s throat was close to inhuman, and he promptly went into a fit of coughing and squawking nervous noises. Everyone in the class peered over at him with peaked interest, and the teacher—who just barely noticed the disturbance—looked up from his book.

“Mr. Azumane, do you need to go get a drink of water?”

Azumane stood up, straight as an arrow, and responded with a polite, “Sir, uh, no sir. I’m fine.” He cleared his throat multiple times, and when his gaze met a few of his classmates, they rapidly looked away in unjustified fright.

The teacher nodded, uninterested, and waved his hand for Azumane to sit. He then went back to the book and continued to read in a long, robotic drawl.

Azumane let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding, and turned back towards Sugawara who blinked at him owlishly.

“What on earth gave you that impression?” Azumane hissed, as if his overreaction hadn’t been some kind of dead giveaway, “Didn’t I tell you guys this morning’s fiasco was just because we had a fight over video games?” The ace thought his lie had been fool proof, but maybe lying shouldn’t have been his course of action. Maybe a half truth would’ve sufficed. What could he have half-truthed though?

This was making his brain hurt.

Sugawara shrugged and smiled again, a bit knowingly, before he whispered, “Just don’t let it bother you too much. It’s not so bad if you just let yourself fall.”

“Can you stop being so cryptic?” A hollow whisper from behind startled the two. They turned to see that Sawamura had woken from his nap, and he glared at Suga who was supposed to have kept him awake.

Sawamura crossed his arms and leaned forward on his desk, “What he’s trying to say, Asahi, is that whatever is goin’ on between you two…we're here for you. We can help.”

“Daichi and I had the same problem. So, we can kinda spot it a mile away. I think we knew before you did.”

“R-right, yeah, and you two aren’t really that subtle, so…”

Sawamura glanced at Sugawara, and the two exchanged glances, and probably some kind of nonverbal transaction, but not obvious enough for the ace to notice.

However, Azumane _did_ squint at them, confused. His gaze darted between the two before something in his mind clicked. Promptly, and quite cutely, his body exploded with an embarrassed heat.

“Th-that’s not what— _we’re_ not—“ he struggled to keep his voice in a whisper, but somehow managed it. He swallowed heavily, and reached back to split the hair in his pony tail, tightening it just enough so it didn’t fall out. He paused his action, however, and his eyes went wide. “Wait, does that mean you two are…”

They simply smiled at him, unashamed and strangely proud; like a glowing mother and father.

“Daichi and I like each other _a lot_ ,” Sugawara said very quietly but with such determination that it was almost like he didn't just admit the strangest thing Azumane had heard all year. It kind of made Azumane uneasy, but he brushed this news aside, because what they were implying had _much_ more to do with him.

“Yuu and I aren’t like that,” he waved his hand dismissively in front of his face; “we’re just friends. I don’t like him like that.”

Sugawara and Sawamura eyed each other for a moment, but did not press the matter any further. They turned their attentions back to the lesson, leaving Azumane to drown in his own pestering thoughts.

Without knowing it, Azumane had opened a pandora’s box, and it was only going to get more difficult from here.  


~~~~~

 

Coach Ukai blew his whistle in quick succession, gathering the boys to line up at the service line. They all did so, shoes squeaking as they hustled. Their breaths were panting and sweat beaded on each and every forehead.

"Single file," Ukai's words slurred as he spoke through his teeth, biting down on his whistle. His anger resonated throughout the entire gym; obviously still heated from the morning's tragic excuse of a practice.

Nishinoya let himself trail to the end of the line, easily falling into the shadows of his taller teammates (well, and Hinata, but y'know.) His guilt from leaving practice that morning was still hot in his mind, and he couldn't bring himself to look anyone in the eye. It was not like him at all, and he hated it with every fiber in his being. But because of him, the team had done the most intense running drills known to man, and to everyone's surprise someone actually did barf.

Tsukishima had had troubles with stamina before, poor guy.

Nishinoya sighed for what felt like the 90th time that day, and glanced at the back of Azumane's head. The certainty of his words from that morning quickly lost all merit the minute he’d walked into the locker room again. Pretending like nothing happened was going to take a lot more willpower than he had originally thought. But then again, Nishinoya was not one for thinking things through. Either way, at least Azumane didn’t seem like he was _entirely_ avoiding him.

He wasn’t making eye contact though, so there was that.

_'If I think real hard, will you be able to hear me?'_   Nishinoya’s mind desperately pleaded towards the ace’s pony tail, _'I'm really sorry about yesterday. I really_ really _like you. And it'd be super awesome if you'd kiss me again. Well, we can talk first, but y’know. We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, if it was a joke, you gotta tell me, okay?...Hey, can you hear me? If you can hear me, jump three times.'_

He didn't jump.

So, maybe Nishinoya wasn't as telepathic as he thought.

Ah, well. He'd try harder.

 

Back out of the topsy-turvy universe of Nishinoya's brain, Takeda, who stood next to Ukai, reached into the ball cart and handed one to him.

"And go!" The coach boomed, tossing the ball up; eyes following its path intently. His palm came up to meet it and sent it flying toward at an angle towards the first in line.

Sawamura dove sideways with his right arm outstretched, hand clenched tightly into a fist. It collided with his forearm, just missing the ground and went up smoothly. It soared high enough for another to set if it was during a game. The captain's body fell to the floor and he rolled, gracefully sending himself back onto his feet. He let out a small huff and jogged to the end of the line.

Not a second after, Coach was sending another hard ball to the second in line. It was Kageyama, who mimicked Sawamura's actions skillfully.

And it continued like this for the rest of the afternoon. Each and every team member was ruthlessly pounded with this rolling dig exercise until their cheeks were blotchy and red, and sweat poured down their faces.

There hadn’t even been time to think about each other, let along act awkwardly. So Azumane and Nishinoya felt an odd sense of calm. They subconsciously, and simultaneously, thanked Ukai for being so hard on them.

Coach Ukai blew his whistle and told the boys to do cool down stretches, as well as "come to practice with 110% tomorrow."

He had his mind set on the winter tournament, and so help him he was going to whip these kids into shape. No more of that stumblin' around staring at each other crap. He didn’t care how awkward puberty made them! There was no way he’d fall short of his old man’s expectations.

Practice ended, and Nishinoya knew it would be all over once he entered that locker room. Sure, he internally thanked Coach for the distraction, but that’s what it was to _him_. Not to everyone else. He almost had to take a moment to compose himself before following his teammates in.

 

~~~~~

 

As it turned out, Nishinoya's anxiety of the locker room was correct, and well justified. Tanaka's strong hand slid the door closed with a loud _thwack_ , and almost immediately everyone turned to glare at the libero. Nishinoya swallowed down a yelp.

"H-hey guys," he stammered while backpedaling until he was flush against a locker; trapped, "we're all friends, ri~ight?"

“Oh yeah, we’re friends, all right.” Tanaka’s face was contorted into the usually unthreatening glare he tried on underclassmen, but now it actually struck fear into Nishinoya’s bones. “And friends don’t let friends get their _asses_ handed to them from Coach.”

Nishinoya gulped audibly, and he raised his hands in front of him defensively.

"That wasn't my intention! I just had to leave this morning, you guys--"

"Cut the crap, man!" Ennoshita interrupted with a annoyed groan.

"Because of you, Tsukki threw up!" Yamaguchi complained and tossed a towel to Tsukishima who glared at Nishinoya with an unwavering bitterness.

“Leave him be, guys!” Azumane’s voiced carried over their bickering and it actually caused everyone to freeze. “We all had a crappy practice this morning. Don’t take it out on him.”

When everyone turned to the ace, their expressions made his ill-supported confidence falter. He mimicked Nishinoya’s gulp from before. “W-what?” He almost squeaked.

“You know, you’re to blame too.” Hinata pointed an accusing finger at him, and Kageyama quickly slapped his arm down in a silent warning to be more respectful. It didn’t stop Hinata’s voice though, “You were being all weird too, and everyone was curious.”

“All right, stop!” Sawamura raised his voice, and it dripped with annoyance; an effective "upset dad" kind of tone. He pulled his shirt up and over his head and slammed it into his gym bag in an aggravated burst. “Today has been royally screwed up, so just go home, get rest, and come back tomorrow ready to work!” He turned back to his locker and dug for a fresh shirt, mumbling and grumbling about how he was going to hear it from Coach.

The team, despite having exchanged weary glances, nodded and hollered their assent in unison.

 

~~~~~

 

The team got changed in almost uncomfortable silence, if it weren’t for Yamaguchi’s upset stomach causing him to let out the loudest fart known to man. Everyone--being the super mature and serious boys that they were--toppled over in laughter to the point of tears. They joked and poked fun, and it was as if that day’s weirdness was forgotten. Funny, how flatulence can loosen a tense mood.

Everyone said their goodbyes and began to go their separate ways. Nishinoya took a moment to look up at Azumane, who for some reason glanced nervously at Sawamura and Sugawara. His lips were pursed, hesitant on calling out to them.

“Bye,” Nishinoya blurted, and the ace jumped like a startled cat, arms spreading to catch himself as if he was falling.

“What?! Oh, yeah. See ya.” He replied with a weak smile and an even weaker wave. His eyes did not even move to meet Nishinoya's, and that sort of hurt, but Nishinoya knew better than to comment on it. Things were bad enough as they were.

He did, however, notice Azumane glance one more time at the two 3rd years before turning and heading to walk (oh, who am I kidding, he practically sprinted) to the south school gate.

The libero chewed at his lower lip, wishing so badly that time travel was invented. With a defeated huff, Nishinoya shrugged his backpack onto his shoulder and made his way home.

~~~~~

“You really had to pull the captain card a lot today, didn’t you?” Sugawara chuckled and reached to grab Sawamura’s hand. Their fingers intertwined easily, as if they were made to compliment each other’s forms. They always walked home together; strategically waiting till everyone was gone so they could be like this.

Sawamura hummed absently; his gaze set forward, distant in thought. The day’s events were replaying in his mind, no doubt, and it was causing him stress that Suga could see in his shoulders.

“Why did you tell Asahi about us?” was what he finally said.

Sugawara blinked a bit, pursing his lips thoughtfully, and asked, “You didn’t want me to out us?”

“No, it’s not that, It’s just…I dunno. Once you said it, I kinda shit my pants, but I went along with it because I _know_ you. I know you don’t do things without good reason.” He glanced at his boyfriend with a sincere smile and gave his hand a squeeze. “So, why did we tell him? What was the point?”

“Whether you like to admit it or not, Daichi, people look up to you. You’re a good role model.” Suga commented with a shrug. He began to swing their hands playfully, almost teasingly.

Sawamura used his free hand to scratch idly at the bridge of his nose; embarrassed from the compliment. “Yeah, so?” He managed to mumble.

“So,” Sugawara emphasized, “knowing that the strong, respectable, Mr. Captain-Pants, is head over heels for a boy—“

“I’m gonna stop you right there.” Sawamura croaked, his face turning a bright shade of pink.

The setter smirked and turned, planting himself in front of Sawamura. They both stopped walking and stared into each others eyes for longer than needed.

Sugawara chuckled and looked down at their interlaced fingers, “Sorry. I know how you get embarrassed." He traced his finger along Sawamura's thumb lightly, "I just meant, if Asahi sees how something like _this_ doesn’t feel wrong, maybe he’d get some confidence in his own feelings. You said it yourself at Tokyo, that he’s obviously got some kind of crush.”

“I wasn’t exactly _sure_ when I said that! I just happened to notice him looking at Nishinoya, is all.”

“Don’t be so modest." He swatted the boy with his free hand, annoyed at his insistence. "You and I both know that it's easy to see how crazy those two are for each other. They’re just dumb and blind like we were.”

“I don’t think either of them is dumb or blind enough to try anything though. They’re too scared." There was a pause, and then he added, "I bet something weird happened though, that much is obvious.”

“That’s where we come in! We’ll make them un-scared!” Sugawara’s tone was so happy, delighted at his own thought process. His eyes gleamed, and they widened with an unnecessary enchantment. He was always such a cheerful guy, it was contagious.

Sawamura leaned forward and brought his own smile to Suga's skin, softly pecking the beauty mark just below his eye. “You have this all planned out, don’t you?” He pulled away, and his expression melted into a smirk. “Y’know, for an angel, you’re surprisingly devious.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, even though it’s backhanded.”

The two continued to walk, contented with their new plan even though it wasn’t really thought out. Not well-thought out thoughts were becoming a bit of a plague on this team, weren’t they?

Anyways, getting the team’s overactive libero and glass-heart ace to admit their obvious attraction to each other wasn’t necessarily top priority. But gosh darn it, they would try.

For the sake of the team’s success. Of course.

Yeah, that was why.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is all over the place what even...
> 
> [I have a tumblr, by the way. it's bimmykimmy, if you wanna come send me your headcanons or gush over these idiots.]
> 
> As always, I do not have a beta or a proper word processing program, so errors are inevitable. Let me know if you find any that are particularly distracting!


	3. Finally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awkward house visits, awkward texting, awkward sleepovers, awkward McDonalds, awkward boys saying things that make other boys go all shy damsel. Lord, somebody help these children.

He knew he’d eventually be reprimanded for leaving practice early, but he hadn’t expected coach to actually show up at his front door. It was Saturday, but also a holiday, so classes hadn’t been held. It was mid-morning, and Nishinoya was home alone. He had been thoroughly immersed in a game of flappy bird, when he heard a knock at the door. Upon opening it, Nishinoya had to physically hold back an exaggerated gasp.

“Yo,” Ukai held up a hand in his characteristically nonchalant greeting.

Typically, around this time, they’d be having practice, but Ukai’s attempts at getting the Dean’s permission proved useless. There was also a mention of potential janitorial training in the gym or something, but Nishinoya really wasn’t paying attention to Sawamura. His focus was, _surprise surprise_ , narrowly set on Azumane’s profile. He had been chewing his nails, a bad habit that Nishinoya wanted to call him out on, but he found himself more spellbound by the action than anything else. Azumane’s teeth had worked and gnawed at the hard edges, peeling off the tips into white crescents in a tantalizing rhythm. Sawamura had started handing out some kind of permission slips or flyers, and the libero took one and passed the stack on without so much as a blink. He'd been too mesmerized by the way Azumane’s lips curled into an anger-less snarl while he twisted his wrist to help pry off another sliver.

 _‘Really?”_ His inner voice had complained, _‘You’re_ really _watching him bite his nails off? You’re hopeless. I’m embarrassed for both of us’_

Ukai’s tense figure now loomed over Nishinoya, staring down with an overpowering masculine foreboding. The libero stood with a delicate hand resting on the edge of the door; half contemplating to slam it shut.

“C-coach,” he fluttered his eyelashes in a confused haze, “I—we—this is unexpected.”

Ukai snorted and crossed his arms in an irritated huff. “Yeah, well, Takeda still hasn’t given me an updated phone list. He says he’s busy with grading.” His tone was mocking by the end of his sentence, and he even childishly used air quotes. Sometimes it was hard to take Ukai seriously when he acted like a four year old.

Nishinoya, dumbfounded by this encounter, continued to stand with eyes wide and fingers now curled against the door’s border. Seeing any of the faculty members outside of the school setting was so unreal; like seeing a celebrity poorly disguising themselves behind sunglasses. However, Nishinoya made note of Ukai’s image. His outfit was actually, _strangely_ , nice. His usual “I found this and just threw it on” appearance was now replaced with a well ironed collared shirt and equally pressed khakis. Nishinoya took a moment to look down at his own outward appearance. He was barefoot, and only clad in a crummy cut-off and basketball shorts. He shifted his feet a bit; feeling oddly underdressed in his own home.  
  
“Anyways,” Ukai folded his arms across his chest again and looked down at Nishinoya, “I’m gonna have to have a chat with you.”

“Yes, sir.” Nishinoya’s immediate response was respectful, but had a twinge of guilt laced into it. “I’m sorry.” He kept his lowered gaze set on his toes.

“None of that,” Ukai’s voice was stern, but when Nishinoya looked up to him, his expression was a soft, knowing one. “Now, are you gonna let me in? Or are we going to do this out here?”

Without much ado, Nishinoya opened the door wider and stood off to the side, bowing slightly how his mother taught him to do so many years ago. “Please, come in.” The greeting sounded fake, rehearsed, but Ukai didn’t comment on it, and simply muttered his own conventionally polite sentiment and let himself in.

 

~~~~~

 

They sat across from each other at the kitchen table with two cups of fresh tea between them. Nishinoya wrapped his palms around his cup and liked the way the heat stung against his skin. He kept his eyes down, glued to the leafy water that sent swirly threads of steam up into the air. His bangs fell over his forehead, barely touching his brows—he hadn’t bothered styling it yet since he wasn't expecting to see anyone. A few moments passed, and he swallowed audibly when he heard Ukai sigh.

“You know why I’m here, obviously,” he started, and leaned forward to grab his own cup, “This is about the two practices you've ditched.”

“Two?” Nishinoya looked up, brows knitting delicately in slight confusion.

Ukai took a sip of his tea, grimaced at its bitterness, but voiced no complaint. He simply placed the cup back down with a dull thud and folded his arms. “I’m not an idiot, Nishinoya. I know a serious injury when I see one.” There was a small pause and Ukai pouted at Nishinoya’s blank expression. “Ok, fine. I spoke with the nurse and she said you were completely fine.”

Nishinoya sucked in his lower lip and nipped at it a few times before simply mumbling, “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Stop with the apologies,” Ukai groaned, “I’m not some stuck up teacher who wants respect. Ok, I do want respect but not…Argh, just listen!” He grew frustrated at his own words, and it was a bit reassuring that Coach was about as bad at awkward situations as Nishinoya was. “Practices are important to grow—both physically and emotionally—as a team. I can’t have you ditchin’ out so much. It’s gonna build up and build up and eventually affect your performance.”

Nishinoya nodded, knowing full well that he was letting his overwhelming crush on Azumane completely throw off his momentum in the sport. But what could he do? There weren't any classes he could've taken to prepare himself for this kind of thing.

What would they even be called? How to Deal with Your Crush Kissing You Then Running Away 101?! Survey of You Totally Ruined Your Chances?!

And it wasn’t like he could just talk willy-nilly about it with Coach. If it was about a girl, maybe he could engage an awkward chat, but a guy…That was a different story. Who _knows_ what his reaction could be; not that Coach had given any inclination he was particularly against that sort of thing. It was the societal basis that kept Nishinoya’s mouth shut about it.

And here he thought he could have confessed when he confided in Tanaka about it.

Fat lot of good that was.

He felt like a loss cause.

Doomed to a life time of staring at his crush—once friend—bite his finger nails or pull his hair back.

“Listen…” Ukai interrupted Nishinoya’s reverie in a quieter, serious tone that caused Nishinoya to squirm a bit uncomfortably in his chair. He could handle Ukai being beet red in the face and angry, but this sort of ‘dad to son’ vibe was totally throwing him off. Well, it was more like older brother to younger brother, if you’d want to be specific. Either way, Coach was definitely attempting at some sort of nurturing comfort. “If there’s something you wanna talk about, something you need to get off your chest, I’m all ears. I’m your coach, yes, but I also care about each and every one of you. Just, uh, just know that I’m here if you need me.”

Nishinoya lifted a hand to his blonde dyed bangs and pinched a strand between his index finger and thumb. He rolled it around with an uncharacteristically bashful expression set on his face. He did this for a quite a while, mulling over Ukai's words.

“Thanks, Coach.” He lifted his eyes to face Ukai for only a moment. Coach’s lips were pressed in an uncomfortably tight line. He nodded in a small rhythm, like he was listening to music, but the kitchen was flooded with an unbearable, awkward silence.

After another few moments of silently sipping tea and avoiding eye contact, Nishinoya cleared his throat. “Ah, it’s just, well, it’s not something I can talk about with you. Not that you couldn’t help!” He lied, “It’s just…" a pause to search for the word, "Teenager stuff.”

Ukai scoffed, offended. He lifted his hand and waved it with vigor, “I was a teenager once too, you know.”

“Yeah, but you had worse things to worry about like the American occupation.”

“Oi!” Ukai’s tone was a warning, but he eventually smirked in light humor. Folding his arms, he leaned back in his chair and protested, “I’m not that old!”

“Eh, to a high schooler, once you’re over 20, you’re practically ancient.” Nishinoya shrugged and clamped his palm around his teacup once again. He was appreciative of Coach’s subtle prying, but no amount of paternal charm was going to get him to spill the details. Nishinoya decided then and there that he’d figure this whole thing out. Outcome be damned, he just wanted his old life back.

Normal team, normal relationships, normal normalcy.

Wait, hadn’t he wanted to confess at the beginning of the week? That’s about as far from normal as you could get.

To be honest, he still wanted to. At this point, it was outlandish to think that he could hide his feelings at all let alone act normal.

 _Christ_ , this was exhausting.

They finished their tea with small conversation that was predominantly, not surprisingly, about volleyball. At one point, Nishinoya had gotten so riled up that he actually stood up in his chair and mounted his foot on the table in some sort of action hero pose. Ukai practically flew back, arms rising defensively, but he laughed at the boy’s tenacity on the subject of Ron Von Hagen. It appeared as if Nishinoya was back to his old, obnoxious self, and to that he coach smiled warmly.

Eventually, Ukai knew his unannounced stay was no longer deemed polite, so he dismissed himself.

Nishinoya showed him to the door, feeling a small uplifting tenderness in his chest. He somehow needed this little get together with Coach. It had been helpful to sooth his troubled heart, despite its initial purpose (which was scolding).

As if reading Nishinoya’s mind on the matter, Ukai stopped halfway out the door-frame and rebuked, "No more leaving practice early, or I'll have to bench you.” He brought his palm to the back of Nishinoya’s head and gave him a small, endearing slap.

"Ow!” Nishinoya complained, and he was about jab him with an insult about his hair, but then he remembered oh yeah, this _was_ his coach. Nishinoya had a bad track record anyways, and he was trying to fix that. So instead, he simply pouted and gave a small nod. “R-right, understood."

With that, Ukai grinned and gave a small wave as he left. Nishinoya watched him from the door, and suddenly was reminded of the rather formal outfit his coach wore. Well, formal for his taste’s anyways. The only time he’d seen coach dress remotely fancy was at official games. Plus, he never wore anything nice for his other job. So, his appearance now must mean…

“Good luck on your date!” Nishinoya teased without any real conviction, but to his surprise Ukai halted. His shoulders hunched up, and he turned quickly on his heel with comedic exaggeration. With his face was flush, his eyebrows pinched together in noticeable embarrassment.

“H-how did you know!?” was what he yelled.

Then Nishinoya was dumbstruck for the second time that day. Ukai _really_ had a date? Was he a ladies man? Is a grown man that wears headbands the new sex symbol?? Maybe he should’ve asked him about confessing instead of Tanaka.

No, no, none of that. He had dwelled long enough in the “hindsight was 20-20” business.

Nishinoya blinked a few times, and just sort of…closed the door slowly. Ukai grumbled a complaint. Something along the lines of “You little--” but it was cut off by the door latching shut.

 

~~~~~

 

By the grace of God and Zeus and whoever else was up there, Azumane had gotten a text from Sawamura telling him practice was officially cancelled for the day.

With his hair still damp, he rubbed a towel against his head and glanced down at his phone. He couldn’t deny the urge to sigh, so he did, and it was filled with a bittersweet relief. The idea of going through another torturous and embarrassing practice left a nasty taste on his tongue, and Azumane was beyond glad that they gotten the day off.

His thumb tapped away on the glass screen to reply, and once it _pinged_ the sent confirmation, he tossed the device onto his bed. The towel on his head fell around his neck, exposing his darkened locks. Some of them clung to his face, now twisted with the slight wave that water always seemed to annoyingly bring out. He thumbed at a strand that plastered itself to his lip; idly brushing it away as he sat down in front of his computer.

“Now I’m up this early for nothing,” he mumbled as he placed his chin into his hand, moving his other hand to grip the mouse and jiggle the computer out of sleep. His complaint wasn’t really full-hearted. Not in the least. Not when he could now officially go 24 hours without seeing (or dreaming about) Nishinoya.

Azumane swallowed hard, and it was very much audible in the quiet of his room.

The thought of his younger friend, and the accusations Sugawara and Sawamura had pinned along with him, made the ace’s stomach do all sorts of acrobatics.

Despite the screen in front of him displaying highlights from professional leagues, Azumane found that when his eyes scanned the words, his brain refused to process. Instead, he wracked his mind over and over with the facts at hand.

He had kissed Nishinoya.

Nishinoya had retreated, without so much as a vocal response.

There was now an undeniable unease hanging over their friendship…

“Friendship,” Azumane found himself muttering as he flicked his middle finger on the center scroll of the mouse. “Yeah, how are we gonna be friends now that I’ve screwed it up entirely? Who the hell kisses their best friend?! Crazy people, that’s who!”

But then again, Nishinoya hadn’t given Azumane any real reason to think that. He didn’t act as if he hated him or even as if he was angry. Both of them had just sort of _ignored_ each other and, well, obviously that didn't fare too well with the rest of the team. Azumane had felt partially responsible for Coach’s wrath, and truly, honestly he _wanted_ to speak up sooner. Wanted to fess up to being the cause of this whole mess and take full responsibility for Nishinoya’s airheadedness, but he just wasn't that kind of guy. He wasn't strong willed or even confident, not like Nishinoya. That was something he admired so much in his underclassmen.

And even when he _had_ spoken in Nishinoya’s defense, the team had ruthlessly turned on him as well. Ok, ruthlessly might be a bit harsh.

“This is stupid,” he commented while pushing against his desk to wheel his chair back, “I should be worrying about university entrance exams or, or, other crap. Not this.” He spoke as if chatting with another, a small habit that not too many people knew about. When his computer screen did not respond, Azumane sighed and let himself fall from his chair. It wasn't an overstated gesture, just one of pure, unadulterated exhaustion. He landed on the carpet with a muffled thud, and he splayed his arms out on either side, palms up.

Immediately, his mind popped back to the scene on Nishinoya’s floor. He saw himself lying next to his friend; watching him act all anxious and uncomfortable, not like himself at all. Something had obviously been bothering him, something he didn't feel necessary to tell Azumane about. Or maybe he had thought Azumane wouldn't care? That realization, at the time, sort of stung, but Azumane had wanted to see Nishinoya smile again, so…

So, what?

“So, you kiss him to make him feel better? Are you an imbecile!?” He kept his eyes pierced on the ceiling fan; resolutely coming to the decision that he was, in fact, an imbecile. Reaching under his head, he yanked the damp towel and threw it across his room into a pile of dirty laundry.

“You said ‘you’re bad at this’…” He growled to himself, “What exactly were you referring to?!”

His mind’s eye once again flashed to that stupid, stupid, _stupid_ , okay maybe not so stupid, kiss. He told himself it was just a joke, but who was he kidding. The angle had been just right, the moment felt so perfect, and he just went with it. Pressing his lips delicately against Nishinoya’s unsuspecting ones had sent an undeniable shiver up his spine. There had been a wave of adrenaline too that made his mind hazy and stomach ache.

“You’re his best friend, Asahi, not his _boy_ friend,” he told the poster on his wall.

Suddenly, he gasped and his lids stretched so wide it was almost painful. The remembrance of Sugawara’s words rang in his brain with a thunderous realization.

“Oh my God,” Azumane sat up a bit too quickly and it caused his vision to darken for a mere moment, “Oh my God. _Oh_ my God.” He blinked slowly a few times to steady himself. “I…I like him in _that_ way, don’t I? Th-that’s why I…”

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence out loud, and his cheeks warmed aggressively. He brought his knees up to his chest, but before he could bury his face in self-inflicted embarrassment, his phone chirped. It startled him a bit, but then again many things did so the point was moot. Almost too quickly, as if he had just been caught doing something he shouldn't, Azumane stood up and moved his sand sack of a body to the bed. His clumsy speediness was probably a subconscious reaction to escape his own thoughts, but we all know that it was futile.

In one motion, he swiped up his phone up and flipped over to fall backwards onto the mattress. He ignored the feeling of his still damp hair against the pillow, and slid the phone unlocked. A gray message box popped onto the screen.

**Received: 8:47 am**  
_Are you gonna talk to Noya today?_

Azumane practically gulped upon reading the words on the screen. Great, even the first years were going to start prying. What are the odds that he’d get a text as soon as he…discovered that….thing? Did they all have some sort of freaky beehive mentality going on? Can people do that? Well, they did say that girls who are close friends sometimes…

Ok, forget that.

 Luckily for Azumane, his characteristically flustered nature could be masked through the emotionless act of texting.

**Sent: 8:49 am**  
_You got a lot of nerve texting your upperclassmen so early, Hinata._

He went to put his phone face down on his stomach, but it _pinged_ almost immediately in response.

**Received: 8:49 am**  
_OhNO. I’m sorry I’m sorry! I hope I didn’t wake you! It’s just…well kageyama and I were just sitting here talking about u guys and I was just worried that u two were fighting or something because of what happened…_

“Kageyama and Hinata are together this early? Did they get breakfast?” Azumane wondered aloud, but the passing thought was quickly shattered when Hinata’s last words finally processed. He tensed his whole body, sat up in his bed and clutched the phone a bit too tightly as his thumbs padded across the screen. He was even too frantic to care about the annoying click of each hurriedly typed letter. Thankfully, autocorrect was on his side because he was certain he pressed send before his brain was even done thinking of the words.

**Sent: 8:50 am**  
_What do you mean?? Nothing happened who told you that?!_

When there wasn’t an immediate response this time, Azumane’s heart began to thump achingly in his chest. To add to his growing anxiety, a knock at his door made him thoroughly jump out of his skin.

“Y-yeah?!” He called out with a quivering squeak in his voice.

“Asa, breakfast will be ready soon.”

“Kay, thanks, Mom. I-I’ll be right down.”

“…Are you alright, hon?”

“’M fine! Don’t come in I’m naked!”

With no other response from his mother, Azumane licked his lips in dreadful anticipation. The lock screen stared up at him almost mockingly as he waited for a response. When it still did not come, his anxiousness got the better of him, and his good judgment flew out the window.

Cue the ‘open mouth insert foot’ scenario.

**Sent 8:53**  
_Whatever you heard it’s not true! Yuu and I are just friends! Don’t believe anything Koushi tells you._

He waited some more and it felt like an eternity. Honestly, it was like 30 seconds, but he was desperate! Give the guy a break. He began to jiggle his foot with impatience as time passed.

“Come on you little…orange-haired…sh--”

Eventually, his phone chimed again in his hand, and he felt like his fingers couldn't move any slower to view it.

**Received: 8:55 am**  
_I meant getting in trouble with coach…what did u think I meant? What does Suga have to do with this?? What arent u telling me?? I wanna know toooooo~~_

Azumane stared in disbelief at the message in front of him. The strength in his hands fled and the phone dropped between his knees and onto the mattress.

“What have I done…” he mumbled in utter self-resentment, and not before long, he lazily climbed off his bed. His stomach was in painful knots, and he wasn’t the least bit hungry, but he didn’t want his mom to worry. Grabbing a hair tie from his dresser, Azumane pulled his hair up in a sloppy bun as he left the room.

He knew full well what he’d done.

He lit a fire.

And it was going to burn something fierce.

 

~~~~~

 

A pout formed on Hinata’s lips as he stared dolefully at his phone.

“He won’t answer,” he complained.

“Of course he’s not gonna answer, stupid. He doesn’t want you to know.” Kageyama kept his eyes on the television screen as his fingers worked expertly at the Playstation controller. Hinata and Kageyama had spent so long working on the quick strike after practice that it had been way too late for the shorty to ride home. Who knows what sort of trouble he’d find while biking in the dead of night.

So, Kageyama had offered him to stay at his place. You know, like a sleepover. A sleep over between friends. A sleepover between two guy friends who happened to like each other beyond ‘bromance.’

What? Don’t look at him like that. He had only the purest intentions! Honest!

And it wasn’t as if anything happened. Hinata was too dim for that, anyway. And parents!! Yeah, Kageyama’s parents were home too so…

Now, after waking up only to find that practice was indeed cancelled, Hinata laid on his stomach, idly kicking his shins against the mattress. Meanwhile, Kageyama sat in front of the bed absorbed in the game. Kageyama’s parents were downstairs, no doubt debating how in the world their Tobio had an actual, honest-to-goodness _friend_ spend the night. Their surprised reactions upon the boys’ arrival the night before had been more than embarrassing, but Kageyama had known better than to let it show on his face in front of Hinata.

“Do you think Azumane and Noya are _together_ together? Like us?” The redhead asked after finally giving up on staring at the device in his hand. No amount of sheer will could force a text to pop up on his mobile; that much he knew.

No answer came from his friend. Hinata blinked down at Kageyama’s shoulders—which were hunched rather strangely—then back up to the screen. The character had stopped moving save for the looped swaying animation that all fighting games hilariously include.

“Oi,” Hinata pursed his lips in irritation. He hated being ignored, so he leaned forward and flicked the setter’s ear. “I said--”

“Yes, I know what you said.” Kageyama blurted and raised a defensive hand to his ear without turning to face Hinata. His voice was noticeably tense, which went right along with the rest of his current state of being. “But…do _you_ know what you said?” He added a few moments later with much less vigor.

Hinata hummed in confusion, folded his hands together, and rested his chin on them.

“You’re always speaking in riddles,” was what he decided to answer with as he dropped his feet down, one then the other, onto the bed.

Kageyama clicked his tongue irritably and turned. Although his brows were knit, and his lips were turned down in his usual scowl, there was no denying the pink that stained his skin up to his ears. His narrow eyes met those wide, searching pearls and the contact caused him to flinch.

He took a moment to gather himself; cleared his throat to say, “I don’t speak in riddles, you’re just an idiot.”

“I am _not_!”

“You just said we are together so—“

“Oh,” Hinata blinked and cocked his head a bit, “Huh, I guess I did.” He took a breath, “Well, we are, aren’t we?”

Kageyama felt an unbearable heat fill his entire body, and he wouldn’t be surprised if steam started escaping. He promptly slapped his hands over his face in an attempt to hide whatever dignity he had left. Which, grant it, wasn’t a whole lot.

“Unbelievable…” his voice muffled into his hands, and he heard Hinata make an exaggerated, almost choking noise.

“What?! D-d-don’t you want to be?” The mattress squeaked as Hinata’s frame shot up to stand. Kageyama removed his hands just in time to see him with his arms raised and knees bent; a perfect replica of the character on the screen. “Y-you wanna go?! I’m not afraid to fight you!” His voice held the threat, but his face was just as red as Kageyama’s.

The setter sighed; exhausted already and it wasn’t even noon. He had an awful feeling that this is how things were always going to be between them. But it’s not like he hated it…

The smell of bacon wafted into the room, causing both hot headed boys to swiftly forget everything and anything. Hinata unashamedly drooled and Kageyama fought the urge to copy him. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, just in case.

“L-let’s just go eat,” Kageyama suggested through pouted lips. He stood up and began walking to his door.

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Hinata smiled a toothy grin, and jumped from Kageyama’s bed. Once he landed, and it was soft and silent, he jogged up to his grumpy friend. As he passed, he swung his arm up, back, and forward again to slap his palm firmly on Kageyama’s butt.

“OW! Why you--” Kageyama bellowed. His hand which reached to grab at the offender met nothing but air as Hinata bolted down the hallway laughing. Kageyama brought his other hand to his rear and rubbed it where it stung from the attack. “Coward!" He yelled, and then added quietly to himself, "Stupid idiot.”

When he finally made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, Hinata was already seated comfortably at the table. He was chatting away with Kageyama’s father, who (the poor fellow) was trying his hardest to follow the redhead’s lightning speed of speaking. Kageyama removed his hand from his bottom and went to sit down next to his friend. Hinata didn’t miss a beat and immediately turned to him, including the setter in the conversation about…whatever the hell he was talking about.

Kageyama dropped his eyes to his plate, and his fingers toyed with the silverware as Hinata’s over obnoxious movements bumped their shoulders together one, twice, and three times.

Mrs. Kageyama almost dropped a serving plate when she turned and saw her son’s expression resemble something of a smile.

 

~~~~~

 

Saturday was passing by rather slowly for Azumane, much to his dismay. He had kissed his mom goodbye as she left for her part time job, promising her that he’d switch the laundry loads before going out.

He hadn’t really planned on going out, but being cooped up in his house all day was no doubt going to drive him insane. His overactive mind was evidence enough. So after making sure he hadn’t put too much detergent in, Azumane was slipping on his shoes and locking his front door shut.

The day was cooler than usual, but the sun was high in the cloudless sky. The hustle and bustle of busy patrons echoed over the rooftops, bringing the outdoors to life. The air felt refreshing against Azumane’s skin and he took a deep breath before making his way down the street.

The best part about not living in such a big city was practically everything was within walking distance. He didn’t know a single student, save for Hinata, who had more than a twenty minute walk to get to school. Sometimes he’d run into Sawamura and Sugawara on their way to school, and he’d walk with them.

Now that he knew the truth behind them however…Azumane’s face went a little flush at the thought.

“I bet I was interrupting their ‘alone time’ or something.” He laughed at his joke, but he was someone who wore his heart on his sleeve. So, the idea of him _actually_ interrupting something special for his two classmates was actually a bit disconcerting. He made a mental note to be more careful in the future.

 

~~~~~

 

The encounter with Coach had thrown off Nishinoya’s otherwise lazy plans for the day. He didn’t mind though. His chat with Ukai had given him a new sense of reassurance; like everything wasn’t beyond repair. Coach Ukai probably had no knowledge of this, but something about him brought Nishinoya (as well as the other team members) to level ground. He was like a beacon of solidity in their roller coaster high school lives.

It’s funny how these things played out. Nishinoya hadn’t even talked about the real issue at hand, and yet, he felt somewhat relaxed about it now. Coach’s steadfast care gave Nishinoya a bit of strength he needed.

But enough of that sappy crap.

Nishinoya was hungry!

His stomach growled pitifully, begging to sustenance of any kind. It gurgled and whined even when Nishinoya wrapped his arms around it. The libero had checked his fridge and, much to his dismay, found it unbearably…well, _bare_.

“Gramps always eats all the food,” he glowered through pouted lips. As if his stomach could see the pathetic, empty refrigerator before him, it gave out one long groan. “Well, looks like I’m goin’ out!”

Nishinoya slammed the fridge shut and sprinted up the stairs, using his hands and feet to climb. _'Animal mode. Activate!'_

 

~~~~~

 

Moments of lip-singing and booty shaking while coating his hair in gel were interrupted by the blaring tune of his ringtone. Quickly running water over his hands and drying them on his shirt, Nishinoya grabbed up his phone which lay on top of a tissue box.

“Yo,” he answered without checking to see who it was.

“Ah, hey Yuu.” It was Sugawara.

“Hi,” Nishinoya moved his phone away for a moment to look at the screen. Yep. It definitely was Sugawara calling. “What’s…up?”

There was a pause, and Nishinoya could’ve sworn he heard whispering and mumbling on the other end. Just as he was about to speak again, Sugawara spoke.

“A-ah, um. OK, listen. What are you doing today?” His voice sounded a bit hushed,and there was static noises; probably gusts of wind. Was Sugawara outside?

The libero quirked an eyebrow, knowing full well he couldn’t be seen, but he just couldn’t keep the expression away. “I was just about to head out and get something to eat, but,” he drew out the word as he walked into his room and changed into a new shirt. “Other than that, nothing. Why?”

“No reason, no reason.” Sugawara’s tone sounded a bit off, like he was holding back an unnecessary eagerness and it was _more_ than curious. Nishinoya switched the phone to his other ear and pressed it against his head with his shoulder.

“Okay,” he had made his way downstairs and was now slipping into his shoes, “Then why are you calling me?”

“It’s nothing!  I just had to make sure of something. The weather is nice today, yeah?” Then his voice got eerily quiet as he mumbled a quick, “McDonalds.” Then he chirped, “Okay, bye!”

And before Nishinoya could say anything else, the dial tone buzzed into his ear. He was left standing; dumb and slack jawed, blinking at his phone.

“What in the seven hells was that about? That beauty-marked nerd has finally lost it, hah? …McDonalds? ”

The thought of the greasy, heart attack on a bun, however, made his stomach grumble in agony. He stuffed his phone into his pocket and rubbed his tummy, soothing its cries.

 

~~~~~

 

 Azumane found that walking around town was not only good for your health, but good for your mind. Busy street vendors, talkative granny’s, obnoxious children, and random stray dogs all gave him a proper distraction of his internal crisis. Before he knew it, he had been walking for a good two hours.

He finally turned on the corner he had been searching for, spotted his destination and sighed. His stomach grumbled in eager desire as the golden arches of McDonalds promised high cholesterol and...and hope.

Taking mind to look both ways, Azumane darted across the street; just barely missing an overzealous bicyclist passing by. Upon entering the restaurant, the ace kept his eyes cast down at his feet to avoid people thinking he was trying to rob the place. It did little good, however, because he made note of the awkward shuffling on feet. A woman even wrapped her arms around her child protectively as he walked up into line.

Azumane sighed, knowing that it was futile trying to dissuade people of their automatic opinions of him. He peered up at the menu, eyeing the display screen with mild interest. When you were this hungry, anything and everything looked good. The grumble from his torso bellowed again and he pressed his palm against it to shut it up.

After ordering from a nervous looking cashier, Azumane turned with his tray in hand towards the dining area. That’s when the sight before him made him stop in his tracks.

That all-too-familiar shorty sat in the corner booth next to the window. One leg was up across his knee, and his elbow rested on the table. His gaze was set somewhere outside; eyes glassed over in deep thought underneath his bleached bang styled over his brows. Between his still lips sat an uneaten French fry; slicking his lips with shine of grease and salt.

Azumane looked up at the ceiling, but he was really addressing the sky, and muttered “I hate you.”

As awesome as the universe could be, Azumane had a blaring suspicion that this was no coincidence. Sure, the town was small and running into people you knew wasn’t that ostentatious. But not twenty minutes before, he…

_“Oh! Asahi!” Sugawara’s voice startled Azumane out of his stupor as he was strolling the streets. He turned sharply to spot the setter and, not surprisingly, Sawamura walking towards him. Almost instantly he felt his face heat, and he knew it could show. He did his best to cover it, shrugging his shoulders so the collar of his windbreaker pressed against his cheeks._

_“Out shoppin’?” Sawamura asked with a grin when they finally reached him._

_Azumane pressed his lips together into a thin line then puffed them with air. When his pause was starting to make Sawamura frown, Azumane blurted out in gasp, “Yeah! Good. Yep.”_

_They stood in front of the old pet shop run by the Naruko family. You couldn’t really call it a pet shop, since the only thing they would sell was fish and fish_ supplies _. The place was run down, unsightly, and it probably broke many or all building codes. But no one wanted it gone because it also added a bit of strength to the neighborhood. It had always been there, and now no one could really imagine the town without it._

_Azumane shot a nervous glance towards his reflection in the windows. Their clouded corners didn’t hide the obvious red blotchiness his skin currently sported. He silently cursed his entire lack of emotional control._

_“Do we make you uncomfortable, Asahi?” Sugawara’s sudden question caught Azumane off guard. His eyes snapped back to the duo, standing shoulder to shoulder. There was no special distance—or lack thereof— between them. They weren’t holding hands, or even being remotely ‘couplish.’ Really nothing out of the ordinary. To anyone, it was just two friends standing._

_“N-no! That’s not…no. Sorry. I’m being rude.” Azumane shook his head, embarrassed at his actions. They were his friends. Nothing would change that._

_So, why did seeing them together..now that he knew the truth…make his heart flutter so much?_

_“Don’t worry so much,” Sugawara soothed; his natural mother hen persona coming full swing. “We aren’t going to do anything weird.”_

_“I wasn’t thinking you would I…sorry.”Azumane kicked the toe of his shoe into the cement. He wished he could just be normal for once in his life. Was that so much to ask?_

_The two simply exchanged knowing glances and laughed it off._

_“What are you up to now? Going somewhere?” Sawamura questioned. He adjusted the strap of his bag as he spoke, and Azumane wondered if they were headed out on a date and there were flowers in there._

_He shook his head, ridding the thoughts, but it probably appeared to be answer to his teammates, so he said, “Ah, nowhere in particular. I was getting kind of hungry. So I was thinking about stopping at McDonalds or something before heading home.”_

_“McDonalds? That’s quite a hike isn’t it?” Sawamura asked._

_Before Azumane could answer, Sugawara budded in. He leaned forward with an unjustified enthusiasm and asked, “The one past the library right?! You’re going there now? Right now?”_

_Azumane jumped back a bit, lifting his arms in defense. “Y-yes?”He bunched his eyebrows in a mix of worry and confusion._

_Sugawara said nothing more and simply turned around, fishing something out of his pocket. Azumane watched him put a device to his ear. Ah, he was calling someone._

_“Who—“_

_Sawamura suddenly stepped in Azumane’s line of sight, rather boldly, and started asking him about next week’s game…_

Sugawara and Sawamura’s smiling, and what he had thought innocent, faces flashed into his mind. Azumane’s brows furrowed irritably and he looked to the ground now. Clenching his hands tightly on the tray, he mumbled, “He planned this didn’t he? And Daichi was the accomplice…That piece of—“

“Hey.”

And for probably the 800th time that week, Azumane’s soul left his body upon being startled. This time he embarrassingly brought a hand to his chest; clutching his windbreaker in his fist, but still mindful to not to topple his tray of food.

The walking train wreck shook his head a bit, trying to regain his composure, and realized he had walked right over to Nishinoya. The libero sat blinking and staring up at Azumane who stood dumbly in front of him.

“I—“ Azumane began, but stopped short when Nishinoya’s unwavering gaze got the better of him. He cleared his throat and shifted the weight on his feet when the devastatingly recognizable warmth crept back up his face. “Hey.” It was practically a whisper.

“You angry at Sawamura?” Nishinoya popped a few more fries into his mouth and leaned back in the booth. He gestured for Azumane to sit down, and before the ace knew it, he was following that gesture.

He plopped himself down across from Nishinoya and set his tray down rather dejectedly before saying, “Huh? Oh, no. I’m not really. He just, ah, he’s annoying sometimes.”

“I can toast to that!” Nishinoya’s expression brightened even more and he flashed his wide grin. He chuckled light heartedly and opened up the greasy yellow wrapper of his burger. Azumane simply stared at the food in front of him and debated whether or not he was as hungry as he had been not five minutes before.

 _‘Well, someone’s in a better mood today,’_ he thought with an almost jealous demeanor.

However uncomfortable this whole charade has made things between them, Azumane couldn’t help but be overly grateful that Nishinoya seemed to be his old self. Maybe he had forgiven Azumane for utterly destroying their friendship. He smiled a bit, watching the libero devour the fatty meal, and eventually began digging into his own.

A few moments of borderline uncomfortable silence passed before Azumane swallowed a mouthful and cleared his throat.

“Listen—“ “Hey I—“

They looked up in unison at each other, eyes widening. Oops.

“Go ahead—“ “You first—“

Azumane dropped his gaze; feeling his face reddening once again. Talk about freakin' awkward. Can't anything ever just _happen?_  Why's it gotta be so--

“Shish kabob.”

The ace shot his gaze back up; eyebrows raised. “What?” He brushed a loose bang out of his face, tucking it behind his ear. He'd probably have to redo his bun again soon, hairs were falling out all over the place.

Nishinoya pursed his lips, and his brow fixed tightly in a show of disappointed confusion. “I thought we were on a roll with the whole speaking at the same time thing.”

“R-right…”

They sat there again in silence, nodding and avoiding eye contact while munching on their poor choice of food. Azumane wondered if Sawamura hadn’t been so distracted by Sugawara and his shenanigans, would he have scorned the ace for choosing to go to Mickey D’s?

He then found his brain eagerly grasping at the opportunity to distract itself from the current situation.

Sugawara and Sawamura.

What were they doing now?

Where were they headed when Azumane had run into them? He bet it was a date; it had to be. They both wore nicer outfits. Or at least, that’s what the ace was going to tell himself because he did not want to think about the boy that sat across from him now…

What kind of dates did his team mates go on? Azumane figured Sawamura wasn’t necessarily the romantic type. Probably got tickets to some college match. Knowing, Sugawara though, he wouldn’t say anything negative about it. He’d go along with it. All smiles and laughs. Would they hold hands? Would they…

Kiss?

Damn those two. Azumane blinked hard once, and then peered up at his smaller friend.

Nishinoya brought his hands to his hair and ruffled it violently. He groaned, and it sounded exhausted and pained.

“Arrgh! I can’t do this anymore!” he exclaimed rather loudly; causing the restaurant to have a moment of stillness before delving back into his busy routine of beeps, deep frying, and orders. The libero ruffled his hair again and let his head fall to the table. It thudded quite loudly and Azumane flinched at the impact. He felt his heart sink in his chest and an uncomfortable weight fell to his shoulders.

There was only a moment’s pause before he knew what he had to do. Forget what he discovered earlier and just make things right already. Enough was enough, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

Much to Azumane’s surprise, Nishinoya lifted his head almost automatically. His expression was…what _was_ it exactly? It was hard to tell. Azumane squinted at him, and Nishinoya did the same.

“You… _You’re_ sorry? What for?” The libero brought a hand to his bangs and pinched at the bleached hairs. Azumane quickly noted his tell; it was what he did when he was nervous enough not to know what to do with his hands. Azumane felt a soft flutter in his chest and it made him shift in his seat. How the hell did he never notice these feelings before? For crying out loud, he knew this boy inside and out. Sugawara and Sawamura were right.

Dang, he really needed to sharpen his self-awareness.

“Y-you know why…” he picked up a fry and squeezed it between his fingers. His face warmed exponentially. “That… _thing_ that I did.”

“That thing, you say.” Nishinoya hummed thoughtfully. He shifted in his seat and brought his feet up, crossing them Indian style. “Are you sorry for kissing me or for running away?”

The ace felt his heart catch in his throat, and no amount of painful swallowing made it go away. He licked his lips and said, “Well, both. I suppose.”

“Why?”

Azumane frowned and turned his narrowed gaze up at the annoyance. This felt like an interrogation. ‘ _Why? **Why??**_ _Why the questions, hah??’_ He would’ve liked to say that in the same tone as Tanaka could, but instead he simply sighed. “I don’t know, Yuu. I’m just…I’m sorry that things are so weird now. I don’t know why I did it…it was a joke?”

It was Nishinoya’s turn to frown, “A joke?” His tone was solemn, empty. Almost disappointed.

“Um, yes?” He cleared his throat since the salty fries made it feel like sandpaper, “Yes. It was a joke. A stupid joke, sorry. I’m so weird, this is so weird.” The ace wasn’t even sure if that was the right answer anymore. The words just sort of spilled out.

 In fact, he knew it wasn’t. That wasn’t what he wanted to say.

_‘No it wasn’t a joke. I tried telling myself it was, but its not. I like you. The kiss was because I like you. You looked so dang cute at that moment and I wanted to kiss you so I kissed you. I wanted to be suave, but I fail at life, and I kissed you. I ran away. I kissed you. I like you. I. Like. You.’_

The pause between them, although awkward, felt very much needed. They sat in the silence save for the busy noises from throughout the restaurant.

 

~~~~~

 

Nishinoya felt the inevitable stab to his gut as that dreaded three letter word left Azumane’s lips.

Yes.

It was a joke.

No, Azumane did not _like_ like you.

Why would he?

He’s had girlfriends before. Girls much more attractive than Nishinoya could ever hope to be.

 _‘You’re an idiot,’_ Nishinoya’s inner voice nagged.

But he decided on normalcy right? Sure, it might be impossible for him. But…but he could do it! He was Nishinoya Yuu! Impossible was his middle name...or something.

The libero smiled, and it hurt to, but he made sure it was 100% opaque. “Well, jeeze!” He laughed; fearing that it sounded a bit fake. “Way to totally botch a joke. We’ve been dancing on eggshells all week!”

“It’s not dancing…”

“Huh?”

“The term is walking on eggshells, not dancing.”

Little known to everyone else, Azumane was kind of a know-it-all. Get him comfortable enough around you, and he could be even mouthier than Tsukishima.

Nishinoya grinned, and it was real this time. It felt nice. “Right, right. A _senpai_ like you would definitely know better than a lowly second year.” He felt his smile grow wider at Azumane’s awkward shifting at the rare term of endearment.

He was satisfied. This air of comfortableness was just right. He could do this. It could work. He didn’t need to confess. He had been silly to think he needed to. Nishinoya could spoil himself with his friend all he wanted, as long as he…as he…

Azumane relaxed his shoulders after tucking that same stray cluster of bangs behind his ear, and his adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. His cheekbones still had a painting of pink, and he looked up at Nishinoya through his dark lashes.

Then it happened.

He smiled.

It was so soft, barely touching his eyes, and it was warm, gentle. It was a smile meant only for Nishinoya.

The libero took in a sharp, hissing breath through his teeth. His heartbeat slammed into his ribcage like a charging bull. “Damn it all,” was all he said before his body moved on its own accord.

He reached out in front of him and his hands grabbed a heaping amount of slippery windbreaker. Tugging with much more vigor than needed, Nishinoya brought the larger boy flying forward. Azumane yelped in surprise, adjusting his half lean, half squatting stance to accommodate for the new position. His pelvis pressed rather painfully into the cold table top, and his zipper poked his stomach.

Before either of them knew it, their lips collided. Their noses _smooshed_ awkwardly, and Azumane’s wide eyes stared into Nishinoya’s tightly closed ones.

 

~~~~

 

Azumane was in a panic. His mind was racing and his blood felt like sludge in his veins.

What was happening?

Was this even real life?!

He struggled to keep from waving his hands about like an idiot.

 

~~~~

 

Nishinoya breathed in deeply through his nose. Azumane smelled like himself and nasty McDonalds and it was perfect.

After quite a long moment, he pulled back his head and pushed forward on Azumane just enough so their lips parted with a rather audible _pop_.

They both plunked back down into their opposite seats. Azumane’s eyes were wide, wider than humanly possible probably. Nishinoya saw him swallow again as he brought a shaky hand up to his lips. When he took a breath to speak, Nishinoya braced himself for the worst. He actually closed his eyes and tensed up, despite how foolish that probably looked.

“You…you kissed me.”

Nishinoya peeped one eye open and saw a rather dumbfounded, blushing Azumane staring at him. He opened the other eye and relaxed his body.

“Yeah, sorry. I guess I like you. Sorry.” Nishinoya’s internal voice screamed and stabbed at him to stop and shut up, but there was no backing out now. He chuckled, “Actually, I really _really_ like you. No joke. It’s gotten pretty bad. I even asked Tanaka of all people for help. Not gonna lie though, he knows a lot of stuff.” He scratched idly at his nose and stared at the now disarray of food on the table.

“That’s…that’s not…” Azumane shook his head. His fingers stilled grazed his lips.

Nishinoya frowned and dropped his hand into his lap, “I’m sorry.”

“No!” Azumane yelled, caught how unnecessarily loud that was, and coughed. “No, it’s okay. I..like you too. I guess.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then.”

“Mmhmm.”

They sat there eyeing each other and nodding and really having no idea where to go from there. Eventually, they looked around the restaurant and saw pairs of curious, judgmental eyes glaring at them.

“So,” Nishinoya drew out the word and Azumane cringed, “maybe we should go somewhere else to talk?”

He watched Azumane glance nervously around the room, which caused the spectators to quickly turn away their stares.

“Y-yeah.”

And he smiled again.

 

~~~~~

 

Grey clouds rolled in from the East and now covered the sun; making the outdoors considerably cooler than before. Sugawara shivered involuntarily as he looked out at the docks.

He wasn’t the least bit surprise when he felt a warm arm wrap around his waist and pull him close. Sugawara smiled and leaned against boyfriend as they walked. Their time spent together was never really planned or thought out. They simply enjoyed each other's presence so much that doing anything together felt like a privilege. Any place Sawamura suggested would sound like a vaction to the setter. Sugawara was so deeply infatuated it was almost painful.

“If you’re cold, we can go find somewhere to eat.” Sawamura said, keeping his own interested gaze out on the town fishermen.

“We could go get McDonalds,” Sugawara snorted and brought a hand up to cover his grin. He felt Sawamura squeeze him as he laughed.

“You’re terrible,” the captain chuckled and shook his head.

“I’d like to think of it as a service! Noya needed some help wooing the ace, so I provided it.” Sugawara leaned his head against Sawamura’s strong shoulder and sighed happily.

Being on the edge of town--where there were more animals than people--was typically good news for excessive PDA. The two had fond this out by accident when they couldn’t stop kissing each other over the summer. Trips to the local market became rather frequent after that.

“Christ,” Sawamura pinched the bridge of his nose and laughed again, “I cannot imagine what god-awful situation those two must be in right now.”

“Stop being so negative about it!” Sugawara pulled away from Sawamura’s arm and crossed his own. “Shouldn’t we be happy for them?”

“Happy for what, exactly? We didn’t technically hook them up yet. They might be in a fist fight right now, for all _we_ know.”

The setter waved a dismissive hand and scoffed. “That’s not gonna happen and you know it. We’ve discussed this, Daichi. They obviously love each other.”

Sugawara watched curiously as his boyfriend grew noticeably tense. Sawamura turned his face away and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. They walked a few more paces in silence.

“Daichi?” the setter tried; his voice soft. “Did I say something wrong?”

Sawamura shook his head, but still did not look at his boyfriend. “No, it’s nothing. I’m just thinking dumb things. Sorry. Let’s just go get some food. I’m cold.”

“Da-i- _chi_.” Sugawara’s tone turned motherly scornful, and he huffed as he emphasized his crossed arms. “What’s going on? Your mood suddenly turned weird.”

They both stopped walking and turned to look into each other’s eyes. Their agreed form of communication whenever they needed ‘to talk.’

“You said love,” Sawamura said blankly which caused his boyfriend to blink several times.

“Come again?”

Sawamura sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose once more. “You said Asahi and Yuu love each other. It can’t possibly be love for them, right? It’s still so early…”

“Well,” Sugawara smiled knowingly. The captain was so easy to read it was embarrassing, but actually kind of endearing too. “Sometimes you just know. Love doesn’t always have to be a gradual thing. It can happen suddenly.”

“But we’ve—“ The captain stopped short. His lips pressed shut, practically disappearing into his mouth.

“We’ve been dating for a while now, yeah?” Sugawara finished the thought for him and smiled.

“Y-yeah,” Sawamura nodded, “and I don’t—I mean I don’t think I—well, I mean if I had to put it into words…”

Sugawara’s smiled grew as he watched his boyfriend grow more and more flustered and annoyed at this turn of events. It was like watching a dog chase his tail. 

Adorable.

Eventually, Sawamura sighed and gave up trying to think it through. He reached forward and pressed his hands on either side of the setter’s face. Sugawara peered up at Sawamura with scrunched cheeks and fishy lips.

"W-what?" He mumbled through the forced pouted expression.

Looking deep into Sugawara’s eyes, Sawamura said with conviction, “I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TITLE DROP. boom.


	4. Finding Solid Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why can't Azumane and Nishinoya communicate like proper humans? Are Kageyama and Hinata ever going to behave? Why is Ukai such a dad??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my mind, Japan’s weather works just like how it does here in Illinois. A billion degrees difference from morning and night; the occasional snow flurry, and then swimming weather in 24 hour periods. You know, the usual.(aka I literally forgot the weather I had written in the previous chapters)
> 
> Also, I felt that Tsukki and Yamaguchi have gotten the short stick so far, so I decided to dedicate a small chunk of this chapter to their “relationship.”….eh, more of a one-sided pining, really.
> 
> Aaaand, well, this fic is basically written with stream of consciousness so I apologize if it’s starting to seem so hectic with a billion different events going on. I love asanoya’s relationship, but I feel like writing about everyone is just as fun

Yamaguchi had always been a morning person, so when practice was called off that morning, he didn’t mind at all. He had already been up for at least three hours, and was making breakfast for his late rising siblings. He flipped a pancake and studied its near perfect brown color as the uncooked side hissed against the pan. Smiling at his handiwork, Yamaguchi reached over and slid open his brick of a phone.

He pressed speed dial two and held it to his ear. His smile stayed put as he waited, nonchalantly pressing the spatula against the pancake as its edges bubbled and crisped. The tone rang many times, and he half expected it to go to voicemail. Just as another ring began, the sound cut abruptly and a groggy, annoyed voice spoke from the other end.

“What.”

Yamaguchi’s expression brightened at the sound, despite its rather unwelcoming tone. “Tsukki! Mornin’! Did you sleep well?”

Tsukishima’s answer was a noncommittal grunt.

“Good, good,” Yamaguchi pressed the phone to his ear with his shoulder, and scraped the pancake off the pan with professional ease. He added it to the growing pile next to the stove; all perfectly brown and circular as they sat on the floral designed plate. “Practice was cancelled, did you get the message?”

Another grunt followed by a long yawn.

“Good!” Yamaguchi repeated. He poured the final bit of batter onto the hot pan and reached to the side to grab a small handful of chocolate chips. “I’m making pancakes. Come over!”

Plop, plop, plop. One, two, three…eleven chips into the batter. Death by chocolate. Just the way Tsukishima (surprisingly) liked it. Not that Yamaguchi would ever admit that he knew his friend’s favorites lest he be yelled at for being sappy.

He waited a moment for a reply, but he knew Tsukishima wasn’t really a morning person so he wasn’t about to say anything. In fact, if it were anyone other than Yamaguchi calling, Tsukishima would probably plot their murder as soon as he saw the caller ID. The freckled (read: pimpled) boy chuckled at the silly thought, poked at the pancake, and continued speaking.  “It’s supposed to be nice this morning, so why don’t we go to the park or something? You said you wanted to do some shopping for new sneakers too. I’d be more than happy to go with you!”

When the pause on the other end continued even longer, Yamaguchi’s smile faltered just ever-so-slightly.

“Tsukki?” He dropped one more chocolate chip onto the upside of the pancake—just for good measure—and flipped it. “You can at least say something, I can’t read minds.”

There was persistent silence from the other end while the pancake batter hissed and popped.

“A-Are you mad that I called you this early? I couldn’t have woken you, you should’ve already been up!”

And as a response, a sound from the other end made the first year’s eyes go wide. It was a small, gentle snore accompanied by a drawn out sighing breath. Yamaguchi’s smile stretched wide across his lips and he giggled.

“I’ll save you some. Good talk, Tsukki.” Then he hung up with a non verbal promise to call again later that morning.

 

~~~~~

 

A handful of hours (and pancakes) later, Yamaguchi found himself sitting patiently on a bench just outside the countless isles of shoes. He insisted he graze through them with his friend, but Tsukishima was a rather independent shopper despite having let Yamaguchi tag along.

“Those red, black, and white ones look pretty cool!” The boy called from his resting place. He, of course, wanted to help Tsukishima find the perfect shoes but he dared not move from his designated spot (he was placed there by Tsukki, you know). As a response, Yamaguchi watched that blonde head—which poked high above the isle— pause and turn. “They’re near the end, third shelf down.” Tsukishima said nothing of course, but Yamaguchi knew he was listening; if his movements were any indication. He smiled and felt a childish satisfaction watching his friend follow the direction.

Yamaguchi bounced his leg and leaned back on the small bench, letting his head rest against yet another set of wooden shelves positioned behind him. Shoe stores always appeared to be filled to the brim, he noted, but always seemed to lack the size needed. He’d never been to this store in particular; it was far too pricey for him. If Tsukishima had any downfall, which Yamaguchi swore he didn’t, it would be that he was a boy with expensive tastes. Yamaguchi remembered an incident where Tsukishima and he were out for dinner. Nothing fancy, nothing special; just a small little place about halfway between the distances of their houses. What Yamaguchi noticed right away was the look of disgust on Tsukishima’s features upon entering the place. It had been summertime, humid and gross, and inside this little restaurant felt like a sweaty sauna. The brunette snickered at the memory of Tsukishima’s face when the waitress—and restaurant owner—came out with a cigarette between her lips.

“Let’s go,” came Tsukishima’s voice from the aisle as he exited out the other side. Yamaguchi sprang to his feet and followed happily like a puppy tailing his master. He caught up in no time and walked in step with his blonde friend.

“You liked those, huh?” Yamaguchi peaked around to see the dark shoe box tucked under Tsukishima’s arm.

The stoic blonde followed Yamaguchi’s gaze to the box, then looked forward once more and shrugged. He knew that Yamaguchi knew he liked them. Why else would he be buying them? It was a stupid question. “Hungry?” was what Tsukishima opted to say.

“Starving!” Yamaguchi replied with vigor. He wasn’t actually hungry, of course. He had had a big breakfast and so did Tsukishima, but he wasn’t going to say no. He’d never say no.

They turned down another aisle and went towards the register. Yamaguchi had to hold his tongue when he saw the price pop up in little green letters on the screen, but Tsukishima handed the cashier his card without so much as a blink. Yamaguchi figured Tsukishima’s parents paid for most of his expenses, despite them trying to push his brother’s old clothes on him.

They exited the store and walked down the rather vacant walkway in the outlet mall. Yamaguchi busied himself with eyeing each and every store, wondering if he’d ever even consider shopping at any of them. Probably not. He lived mostly on hand-me-downs and department store goods. Not that Tsukishima only had expensive items, of course. He did accept a few things from his brother, but hardly ever showed enthusiasm about it since it would delight his parents too much. Regardless, shopping with Tsukishima was always an event that screamed grandeur.  

Minutes passed and Yamaguchi finally spotted the food court. He pointed and opened his mouth to speak, “There—“

A warmth on his other hand startled him into silence, and the subsequent intertwining of fingers caused him to skid and stumble over his own feet. It wasn’t long before Yamaguchi felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat. He dared not look over at Tsukishima, so instead he peered down at their hands that comfortably held each other.

He tried hard not to, he really did, but his lips broke into the widest smile this side of the hemisphere had ever seen.

“Let’s get something nice,” the blonde said dully.

Yamaguchi couldn’t have agreed more.

 

~~~~~

 

Walking in silence wasn’t something that necessarily bothered Azumane, but given the circumstances he’d make an exception. He and Nishinoya made their way down the main street with no real destination in mind. The part timers at McDonalds had started giving them weird looks, so they both decided that it was best to leave. Azumane didn’t blame them. They had sort of caused a scene; not to mention generally everyone within a five mile radius was severely aware of his presence (due to no fault of his own other than his looks).

Now, however, Azumane wished someone would notice him and his “questionable appearance.” Call him out, interrupt, do something!

Nishinoya walked his bike with his gaze set forward and brows furrowed in thought.

Azumane wondered if Nishinoya was thinking the same thing he was. Which were mostly incoherent sentences along with internal screaming. The smile on the libero’s lips hinted otherwise. Azumane sighed and zipped up his windbreaker a bit. It wasn’t significantly cooler than earlier, in fact it was actually a bit warmer, and his face felt like it was on fire. Hiding behind his zipper was all he could think to do at this point. All other sensible thoughts were long gone. He couldn’t deny the overwhelming sense of relief, however. Now that he’d actually said…what he had said…it felt like he could breathe a bit easier. Azumane was never one for dramatics, so now he had no idea where to go from here. Actually, the mere idea of “going on from here” was a bit daunting; terrifying for someone like Azumane, to be honest

He let his gaze scan the blue-grey sky as his mind wrapped itself around these turn of events.

“So, when you say’ like’…” Nishinoya’s voice eventually knocked Azumane out of his self-caused stupor, and the ace shook his head to refocus.

“S-sorry what?”

“ _Like_. The word. Do you use it in the same way I’m using it?” Nishinoya took one hand off his bike to point at his taller friend; emphasizing each word in his sentence with a jab towards him.

Azumane zipped up his jacket even further, sufficiently hiding his chin and mouth, and shrugged. “Well, yeah. I mean, if I didn’t, I would’ve kicked your butt from here to Spain over that kiss.” His eyes went wide at the memory, and he quickly added, “W-which was completely out of line, by the way! You didn’t need to do that…not that I’m complaining. I’m just…”

Nishinoya grinned widely and snickered. “My mom always told me I was never very good with words other than regarding volleyball, so I just show with action! On and off the court, of course.” He put both hands on his handlebars again and squeezed tightly. His face, Azumane noticed, grew pink and he was fairly certain it wasn’t because of the steadily rising temperature. “Listen, so…” Nishinoya  squeezed the handle bars tightly, “Y-you, ah…I mean. Do we—no wait, let me start over.”

A sudden wind finally blew the clouds away from the sun, and the air around them instantly felt warmer as its light sprayed upon the town.

 

~~~~~

 

Nishinoya chewed the inside of his cheek, and stuck his gaze to his hands. Usually, he was a pretty solid guy, but now he had no idea what his emotions were doing. He had no idea how to say it.

His heart raced, nerves tingled, and his breath felt like it would never settle down. The libero swallowed hard and took a moment to absorb the sunlight; letting it warm his arms exposed from bunching up the sleeves of his jacket. He breathed in deeply the scents of the busying town, filling his lungs to capacity and letting it out in a contented, yet somewhat nervous sigh.

_‘Okay Yuu, this is it. You’ve got him right where you want him. This is what you’ve been waiting for, for months!  Don’t screw it up. Don’t screw it up. Don—‘_

“Hey!!”

In an instant, Nishinoya felt strong hands grab his shoulders and yank him backwards. The sudden jolt made him lose his grip on his bike and it toppled over onto its side. Just as he faltered back, a bicyclist zoomed by, practically clipping his body as they passed.

“Yo, watch it!” Nishinoya yelled towards the figure that was now steadily getting smaller as it rocketed away. The libero held a clenched, threatening fist towards the area where the bicyclist was no longer and scoffed.

After a beat, Nishinoya became painfully aware of the set of hands still holding tight onto his shoulders. A nervous flutter of his heart told him that maybe he should say something; then again, that flutter could also mean just shut up. Regardless, Nishinoya cleared his throat and gulped heavily.

As if in reply that, those same hands gave an affectionate squeeze; one that felt like reassurance or confirmation. Nishinoya turned gently and looked up at Azumane with determined eyes. The life around them continued to bustle, but the two of them couldn’t have been more still.

“So, what does this mean?” Nishinoya broke eye contact and scratched his cheek idly. He heard Azumane make a small confused noise, so he repeated in terms the giant goofball could comprehend. “Us. Where we are now in this whole thing…does this,” he gestured back and forth between them, “Mean we’re dating?”

The ace appeared to jolt at the sudden question, dropping his hands from the younger boy’s shoulders.

Long moments passed before Azumane took a deep breath and looked down at his feet.

 

~~~~~

 

“You obviously cheat,” Kageyama grumbled as his piercing glare stared down at the tic-tac-toe lines doodled onto a notebook page. There was no denying it. His X’s were completely destroyed by the O’s; a downright tragedy although they had fought gallantly.

“How can I possibly cheat? This game literally only entails drawing hugs and kisses on a page,” Hinata smirked and folded his arms; proudly displaying the good humor his victory had brought him. “Although, I can think of something better than just drawing them.” Feeling bold, Hinata winked at his taller friend for added effect.

Kageyama, feeling his face heat against his will, had no rebuttal for that, so he merely glowered some more. His eyebrows pinched in, and he dragged his pen across the “playing area” to scribble his defeat away.

“Oi oi!” Hinata protested, reaching forward and stilling Kageyama’s hand with his. “You can’t tamper with the evidence, that’s a criminal offense.”

The other simply pursed his lips disgustedly and attempted to free his hand, but Hinata’s grip stayed firm.

“Let go of me, you--” Kageyama’s threat fell flat when the redhead’s thumb began to trace his knuckles delicately and slowly; trailing up and down each peak. The setter gulped once and let his expression soften. He watched the way Hinata’s lips puckered ever-so-slightly as he concentrated on the gesture, and noticed the way his hair flipped and curled every which way. It was trivial, but something inside Kageyama wanted to memorize each and every angle of those locks. Before he knew it, he had begun to lean in towards the redhead.

“Hey,” Hinata breathed, and his eyes peered up through heavy lashes. Kageyama—finally realized the decreasing distance between them—jumped back a bit and promptly forgot what breathing was.

“W-what?” His voice was embarrassingly a dying whisper, so he cleared his throat and repeated in a lower voice than needed, “What?” He braced for some teasing, however none came.

Instead, Hinata’s hand worked into Kageyama’s, loosening his grip on the pen and letting it drop, forgotten and useless. His fingers pried, without much resistance, and he brought their palms together and softly clamped them. “Why do you think Azumane said not to believe anything Suga says?” He asked.

Kageyama made a rather unattractive, gurgling scoff of a noise and rolled his eyes. He shook his hand away from Hinata’s. “Again with the upperclassmen? Let it go already. Who gives a crap what they’re doing. It’s none of my concern and none of your business.” He turned away to sulk, twiddling this thumbs in his lap (and totally ignoring the tingling sensation on them at that moment).

“I’m concerned!” Hinata clarified with a whine, “He said ‘We’re just friends.’” Hinata flicked his fingers in air quotes, and then folded his arms across his chest, “Of course they’re friends, right? Usually you say that when people think otherwise. So, does that mean people think Azumane and Noya are dating like we are?”

Kageyama promptly face-palmed himself and muttered, “There you go again saying embarrassing things.”

Hinata, despite his blushing, waved a dismissive hand in front of his face and shook his head, “Enough of that, enough of that. We aren’t talking about your massive insecurities regarding our relationship right now--”

“Relationsh—?“ Kageyama choked on the interjection.

“We’re talking about the Ace and the ‘Reliable Guardian.’ Their _reputations_ might be on the line here!” Hinata barely even paused. He slapped his hands onto his folded legs and leaned forward with determination written on his face.

The setter rolled his eyes and grabbed a clean sheet of paper. He had better things to concern himself with other than his upperclassmen and their stupid kindergarten crushes. Kageyama Tobio was going to win at tic-tac-toe, dammit, even if they had to play all night.

Hinata recognized the fire in Kageyama’s eyes and sighed; defeated and a bit disappointed that his stubborn boyfriend (or whatever) did not have the same vigor for gossip as he did.

 

~~~~~

 

The night had grown sticky, humid, and the air felt heavy; a rather big change from the morning; which the weather channel had—unsurprisingly—not predicted. Sugawara pushed the headband through his hair to pull his bangs off his damp forehead, but it was no use. He still felt overheated and gross. With a sigh, he pressed the next notch on his rotary fan and it whirred to life faster than before. He brought his face close to it and smiled when the air blew cool against his skin.

“You’re hogging all of it,” Sawamura complained from behind the setter. Sugawara turned a bit to look over his shoulder at him as he lounged on the floor with his back against the bed. His legs, sporting a ratty pair of basketball shorts, were sprawled in front of him, and he very much looked like he flopped there long ago and has not moved since—which was entirely plausible.

The setter chuckled but scooted out of the way to let the air hit Sawamura. He watched Sawamura’s face relax as the cool air now traveled his way.

“And to think we were wearing windbreakers this morning!” Sugawara chirped as he scooted backwards; meeting his back to the bed next to Sawamura. His boyfriend offered a hum in reply and placed his hand palm-up on Sugawara’s thigh.

Suga laced his fingers with his and tilted his head. It pressed softly against Sawamura’s shoulder, and the two closed their eyes. The two had been on a sort of high since Sawamura dropped the “L” word. But even if they hadn’t been, they tended to fall into this habit often. Relaxing together was one of the captain’s favorite hobbies; to which Sugawara constantly called him a grandpa.

Grandpa or not, Sawamura favorited something more than relaxing, and he wanted that something now. Without a word—and he didn’t need one—Sawamura stood up and tugged Sugawara to his feet. The two wrapped their arms around each other, grasping each other’s shirts with needy hands. They brought their lips together and easily slipped downwards onto the bed.  

Unable to pull themselves apart, they scooted farther onto the bed until they could easily flip over and lay on it long-ways. Sugawara’s heart thumped wildly in his chest as his boyfriend’s hands began to trace his torso. He didn’t even try to stop the small noises that escaped his mouth; little gasps and moans with each minute separation. He thanked the Lord that his parents were out of town.

“Babe,” Sawamura gasped when they finally needed to draw away to catch their breath. His eyes stayed closed as his lips hovered over Sugawara’s. His breath was hot and moist, panting heavily from the over-zealous kiss. “Tonight,” he swallowed and regained a little more composure, “can we try--”

A small, cutesy ringtone interrupted the captain and he frowned. Both boys opened their eyes and looked to the side. Sugawara’s phone shined and vibrated on the nightstand beside them. Sugawara strained his neck a bit to look and then commented, “Oh! It’s Asahi.”

When he made a move towards his phone, Sawamura brought his lips back down to Suga’s neck, humming sensually. Sugawara felt his face heat as a reaction, but he held an arm up across his boyfriend’s chest.

“Hold on, hold on! He never calls me this late. Something might be up.”

Sawamura lifted his head up once again and made an incredulous expression at him.

Sugawara rolled his eyes and answered his phone, turning on his side and held it to his ear as Sawamura plopped down beside him.

“Asahi!” Suga said into the receiver with a smile, “What’s up?”

A silence returned his greeting sentiment and Sugawara blinked owlishly. “Asahi?” He spoke again into the receiver; now turning back towards Sawamura who still possessed a sour, pouty expression. Sugawara made a ‘get over it’ face and reached forward to trace his fingers along his boyfriend’s jaw line with soft affection.

One more calm ‘hello?’ and Sugawara began to figure it was a butt dial. Just as he was about to hang up, Azumane blurted, “Remember what you said in class the other day!?”

Sugawara’s hand halted its smooth gesture on his boyfriends face, and he quirked an eyebrow. This expression caused Sawamura to squint and raise his own eyebrow inquisitively.

“Yes?” The setter drew out the word and thought back to what he might have said. His eyes went wide at the remembrance and smiled, “Oh! Yes! That. How is it going?” He gave a wink at his boyfriend—who still had no idea what was going on—and let his arm down.

From the other end, Azumane let out a shaky breath and then mumbled, “I have no idea what I’m doing, and I’m an idiot.” His voice sounded muffled; most likely he was smothering himself with a pillow.

Sugawara felt his heart drop a bit and his lips pulled into a slight frown. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

There was another sigh and then, “I said no.”

The setter blinked again, brain processing and doing a poor job of it. Sawamura leaned towards him and whispered a bit impatiently, “What?” Sugawara simply held up a finger, pressed it to his boyfriend’s mouth, and sat up in the bed.

“Asahi, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I said no! I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore. I’m and idiot and it’s like I want to be alone or something.” He made a grumbling noise that was half sigh, half moan, and then he whined. Sugawara couldn’t help but think it terribly pitiful, and his maternal side kicked in.

“Shh, it’s okay.” He cooed as he heard his friend’s breathing turn ragged; a certain sign of anxiety. “Tell me what happened.” He folded in his legs to sit cross-legged and shifted the phone to his other ear. As he did this, Sawamura sat up as well, wrapped his arms around Sugawara’s waist, and rested his chin on his shoulder. It was an intimate gesture, but Suga knew Sawamura’s own paternal inclination had been activated. It was simply to get his ear close enough to the phone to hear Azumane on the other end.

 

~~~~~

 

Azumane rolled over in his bed and shifted his grip on the phone. It was starting to feel hot against his cheek and he knew it was 90% him and 10% electricity. The dull throb of a headache warned him to calm down, but he knew his breathing was already getting erratic. Azumane brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, relieving some of the pressure built up, and took a deep breath.

“Asahi, relax.” Sugawara’s voice drifted softly into his ear; steady and calm as usual. His friend’s composure had always been a life support of the ace, but now Azumane was more thankful for it than ever.

With another deep breath, he shifted a bit and clenched his hand tightly on the phone. “Noya said he liked me and I said I liked him and there were french-fries and people stared but mostly because of me . So, we went for a walk and there was a cyclist with a funny outfit that almost ran into him and he asked if we are dating and I said no. Did I want to say yes? Yes! Did I _say_ yes? _No!_ Why? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why.” His other arm flailed about as he spoke, emphasizing his words and increasingly frantic tone.

“Woah, woah, Asahi settle down. Take a breath, bud.” It was Sawamura’s voice that now soothed from the speaker. If it were any other time, Azumane would’ve taken a moment to become flustered and embarrassed knowing they were together this late. Now however, Azumane simply sat up in bed and pulled his legs into his chest, hugging them tightly with his free arm.

He attempted to take that deep breath, but it was shaky and unsteady. “Dai, what the heck is going on? This is all so convoluted. It could’ve been simple, but no. Nothing in my life is ever simple. Choosing to go to uni or not, being the team’s ace, and now...now this.”

Azumane paused, feeling his heartbeat in his neck. He then heard Sawamura sigh on the other end, and he could almost picture his friend rubbing his temples in frustration. Azumane knew he was being insufferable, and making a bigger deal out of it than he should. In the scheme of things, Azumane could chalk this whole week up as a failure. This whole ordeal was one disaster after another. He was ready to quit.

“Have you considered Noya’s feelings?” Sawamura eventually said. This sudden statement caused the ace to jolt, giving out a little gasp.

“W-what do you mean?” was his reply.

Sawamura sighed again, and made a sound as if he was stretching. “Asahi, what did you do after you said no?”

“W-well, we just…I don’t know. Yuu kinda just stood there, and I couldn’t read his face. I panicked, so I said bye and walked home.”

There was silence on the other end, and Azumane gulped. He took his now sweaty palm and rubbed it on the fabric of his pajama pants in nervous anticipation.

“Are you gonna s-say something?” The ace asked.

“Asahi, I don’t know what to tell you. You guys have been dancing around this for forever, and now that it’s here you both are screwing it up beyond repair. Maybe you both should just give it u—hey!”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s an idiot!”

“I am not! These guys are being ridiculous! Gimme the phone back! I’m just tellin’ the truth—“

There was a rush of static and phone shuffling with muffled grunts and arguing in the background. Azumane held the phone away from his ear as the flurry took place. After a few moments, he hesitantly put the phone back to his ear.

“Listen, Asahi,” _Thank God it was Sugawara_ , “You and Noya both are going through something that is, well, I guess you could say it’s a game changer. It’s not something that will happen over night. You both are feeling awkward and weird, believe me I know the feeling. Stop it, Daichi, I’m trying to lecture. What I’m trying to say is, if you don’t talk to Noya you won’t get anywhere. Neither of you know what’s going to happen, so you just need to trust your gut...and you need to trust each other, like how you do in a game.”

Azumane couldn’t help but feel a smile tug at his lips as Sugawara didn’t even miss a beat when Sawamura obviously attempted to derail his thoughts.  What Suga said struck a chord in Azumane; he hadn’t thought about their relationship in retrospect to their dynamics on the court.

“It’s okay to be afraid.” Suga continued in a softened tone, “Something like this…You know, two guys… isn’t necessarily…” Sugawara’s words trailed off as the seriousness of his statement came to surface.

“Yeah, I get it.” Azumane said honestly and sincerely. He paused a moment and thought about what his friend had said. It was true, Azumane didn’t know what he was doing, and Nishinoya probably didn’t either. They were both going into this blind. However, it didn’t help that Azumane had confidence the size of a sea horse. When he thought back, he knew he was happy. He was elated, actually, when his younger friend confessed. When their lips connected, everything felt right. It was only after the fact that his self-consciousness and anxiety started to cripple any shred of delight he may have felt. And because of his stupidity, he let it hurt Nishinoya, whom he claimed he felt so strongly for.

Then something strange hit him, making his stomach twist and his heart leap.

“Oh, dang it.” He murmured as he fell back onto his pillow, straightening out his legs.

“Hm? What is it?” Suga asked patiently.

“I really want to see him right now. I need to talk to him to tell him how much I…”

The setter chuckled and let out a small, oddly dreamy hum. “It’s late,” he said with a smile in his tone, “wait till tomorrow.”

“But what if he hates me now?” Azumane draped his forearm over his eyes, “What if my saying no was the final straw?”  Waiting for a response, the ace started to feel strangely like that statement hadn’t even been directed at him.

“I highly doubt he’s even capable of anything but affection towards you at this point,” Sugawara said in a breathy tone that made Azumane’s eyes go wide. “ _Haaah_ ,” it was practically a moan, “Ha-have you thought of what you wanna say?”

“Ah, no, I literally just decided to talk to him now.” Azumane paused a moment and listened to the shuffling on the other end of the phone. “Are you even listening anymore?”

“Just be…be honest…” he eventually replied, “And t-tell him exactly how you feel about this whole thing.”

“R-right, thanks. Uh, should I…should I hang up now or…?”

“Mmm, whatever. It’s fine…” Sugawara cooed in a rather dreamy, distracted voice. Then Azumane heard Sawamura chuckle in the background.

“Oh, for— _goodnight_ , guys!” Azumane, in a flustered hurry, hung up on his otherwise occupied friends. Despite his annoyance, and another reaction he’d rather not discuss, Azumane knew Sugawara’s words rang true. He was going to have to face Nishinoya, again, to settle this whole mess out once and for all. For real this time! Not a chance encounter at a fast food restaurant.

Maybe then things could finally move forward.

 

~~~~~

 

Nishinoya was a zombie. He took off his shoes and walked into his house without a word. His grandparents sat in the living room, bickering as usual, so they didn’t even notice his appearance. His mother was in the kitchen. When he passed the doorway, she called out to him. Her words fell onto deaf ears as Nishinoya simply dragged his feet right on by. She popped her head out into the hallway and watched him slink up the stairs. Her brows knit together worriedly.

The Nishinoya household was one of chaos usually—mostly because of grumpy elderly—so any lull in that chaos always stuck out worse than a sore thumb. When Mr. Nishinoya was alive, he had been the center of it all. Little Yuu was the spitting image of him, voice and all. Mr. Nishinoya, too, had gotten into weird moods that threw the family’s enthusiastic flow off kilter. But it was typically more serious business, not petty high school drama. Regardless, any off-putting feelings were a concern of hers.

 

~~~~~

 

When Nishinoya got to his room, he made sure to lock the door. He wasn’t a numb-skull; his mother would be up in five minutes or less. He knew she’d be curious and concerned, but he wanted very little to do with anyone as of right then.

He felt drained, both mentally and physically, and all he really wanted to do was sleep for ten years. Rather, he wished he could just disappear into the deepest, blackest hole and never escape. Bring on the spaghettification.  At length, nothing was going well, and Nishinoya was at a loss for whom to blame. He felt like it was him, but something pricked at the back of his mind telling him it was Azumane.

Nishinoya, leaning against his door, frowned and ruffled his hair. Flakes of dried gel fell like snow as he ran his fingers through the stiff locks.

“No, no, no. Yuu, stop thinking like that. He’s just a gentle giant caught up in my tidal wave of stupid.” He padded his way away from the door and dropped face first onto his bed. He pressed his face into his pillow and let out a rather pathetic noise. “This is ridiculous.”

The libero had had an awful, foreboding feeling that it would end up like this. Something about how he and Azumane were both too awkward for anything magical to take place. His life wasn’t some short love novel with cool little illustrated inserts. There was never going to be that “zing” moment where everything miraculously worked out, and they could hold hands and skip off into the sun set.

Nishinoya lifted his head at that thought; his face stoic and un-amused.

“What the hell am I thinking?” he mumbled and rolled over onto his back. As his eyes stared up to his ceiling, he thought back to earlier. How nervous Azumane had looked with trembling hands and a soft voice. He also  thought about how sad Azumane looked when the word “No” had dripped off his lips. Nishinoya narrowed his eyes at a dusty cobweb clot on his ceiling. “If you were so sad about it, why’d you say no? Stupid idiot.”

Of course, if he was honest with himself, Nishinoya couldn’t completely blame it on Azumane. He, too, had yet another ill-planned reaction. His silence had caused even more awkwardness to suffocate them. That’s when Azumane had fled…again.

Nishinoya sighed and brought his hands up to his face and rubbed vigorously. Maybe he had to look on the bright side. They had kissed, that much was nice. And they both liked each other; like, liked liked each other. So, maybe this is how things were supposed to happen. Life wasn’t perfect, remember?

“Far from it,” Nishinoya confirmed aloud.

As he had predicted, a soft knock came from his door and Nishinoya simply yelled, “I’m okay, Ma! Just tired.”

Surprisingly, that was enough for her. Nishinoya’s mother muttered some affection and words of warning about yakuza towards her son, and then made her way back down the hall and downstairs. Nishinoya turned onto his side, grabbing hold of his body pillow and hugging it like a koala on a branch. He squeezed it tight and pushed his face far into the soft fabric.

His whole body felt heavy and it wasn’t long before that weight migrated to his eyelids. Despite Azumane having said no to dating, Nishinoya still played their kiss in his head again and again. As confirmed earlier in the week, Nishinoya was not a telepath, so there was no telling what Azumane had been thinking. This was just a minor setback. Noya was a libero after all! Stopping things before they hit the bottom was his forte! He eventually fell asleep with a smile.

 

~~~~~

 

The sight before him was not only disconcerting, but also annoying. His team, his boys, after coming this far and training so hard, were dragging their feet and actually, literally tripping over each other. Ukai hooped his finger on his headband and snapped it back against his skull; an old habit he had yet to grow out of. At least the habit tightened the band around his head, since it constantly slipped off.

“Alright, alright, alright! What’s the big idea?” He boomed across the gym after blowing his whistle more times than needed. “Get your asses over here, pronto!” That cuss earned a startled choking noise from Takeda. Ukai kept his scowl despite his heart leaping to his throat at his slip up. The boys all jogged to coach, lazily might I add, and lined up. Their postures were slumped and their eyes had bags unbefitting of their ages. Ukai narrowed his gaze on them, scanning and criticizing each one up and down. Nishinoya—bless him, he’d really taken to Ukai’s talk—seemed to be the most chipper as per usual, but even he had a hint of grogginess in his movements at which Ukai clicked his tongue.

“I’m gonna say this once and only once,” the unnatural blonde announced as he folded his arms across his chest; eyeing each of his boys until they looked away (had to assert dominance in these kinds of situations). “Whatever is going on here, it needs to end.” Before any of the boys could send accusatory glances towards Nishinoya or Azumane, Ukai yelled again, “That goes for all of ya! I can’t play dad to each and every one of you, so fix up your own da—“ he glanced over at Takeda who flattened his lips thinly and widened his eyes, “—aarn problems.”

A silence, rather awkward, followed and everyone either looked at their feet or the wall. Ukai scoffed and sighed, scratching the back of his head and pursing his lips in thought. “Listen, we’ve all come a long way. You have been training and practicing very hard and it’s definitely showing. I see improvement in all of you every day. Many of you have surpassed my expectations…” The boys all brightened up at this comment. They straightened their backs and lifted their heads at the praise. Ukai continued, “Be that as it may, things have gotten a bit, uh, hectic around here. Now, I don’t wanna know what it is, but don’t let whatever’s going on hinder your abilities any longer. If you really want to get Karasuno’s name back on the charts, then none of this, this,” he gestured vaguely towards the boys, waving his hand about, “should be happening!”

The team, though reprimanded, listened intently to what coach Ukai was saying. Things were definitely getting out of hand, and weird tensions were now hampering their performances on the court. Hinata however, leaned forward near the end of the line and studied his teammates with genuine (and juvenile) curiosity. He didn’t think things were so bad, were they? Sure, odd stuff had been happening, but was it really so much that they were slacking off in practice? He, for one, never ever slacked off—ever! And no amount of whispers and rumors (well, okay, he was like 99% it wasn’t a rumor) could ever keep him from his goal.

“Psst, Kageyama,” the redhead moved his arm just a bit to his left and tugged on the taller boy’s shorts; a little too hard because Kageyama immediately grasped at the hem to keep them from falling down his butt. He turned his head and glared down at Hinata with pink painted on his cheeks.

“Shut up, coach is talking,” he hissed back.

“Do you think he’s talking about Nishinoya and Azumane?”

Kageyama pouted even harder (if that was even possible) and looked ahead. “He’s talking about all of us. We’re all being foolish.”

“I’m perfectly fine! I don’t know what _your_ problem is.”

Kageyama scoffed and pinched Hinata.

Down the line, Sugawara chewed on his lower lip till it turned white. He couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty; like he had influenced this hiccup in their team. It was a setter’s job to make things flow like a well oiled machine, but he let his busy-bodied nature sway his decisions. He let out a sigh. Perhaps Azumane and Nishinoya really weren’t ready to take the plunge; and his meddling just made it worse.

Sugawara had noticed it immediately walking into practice that Nishinoya and Azumane had yet to have that talk. Their sideways glances at each other and painfully obvious avoidance of each other were both embarrassing and annoying to witness.

Sawamura beside him sensed his discomfort and leaned over ever so slightly, so that their shoulders touched. Sugawara tried his hardest to fight away his blush, but last night’s events creeping into his mind made that damn near impossible. So, he simply smiled and leaned in too. Maybe with coach’s pep talk...er, pep scolding...influencing everyone, things could go back to normal.

A bit further down, Azumane was wringing his hands together and looking about nervously. It was like déjà vu all over again; feeling those bold gems burning holes in his skull. He knew Nishinoya was staring again, knew he wanted answers—and rightfully so! Azumane was well aware of how he’d screwed up and how much he wanted to fix it, to explain…to just, get all this sorted out. Hell, if coach had noticed it, he was worse off than he thought. He came to the decision to talk to Nishinoya last night, so now it was all on him to set things right. Hey, that rhymed.

The ace gulped and turned his head towards Nishinoya. Even though he was aware of it, he still jumped a bit when immediate eye contact was made. He also had no idea when Nishinoya had scooted down the line to be right next to him. The guy was like a ninja sometimes.

“Listen, um,” Azumane began. His voice was low and quiet, not wanting to catch Ukai’s attention. “Can we talk properly? After practice?”

Nishinoya let his gaze drop briefly in thought before looking right back up into Azumane’s eyes. His lips stretched into a smile. Not his usual toothy grin, but a soft, gentle smile that barely touched his eyes. It caught Azumane off guard, causing his heart to skip a beat.

“I’d like that,” Nishinoya said briefly just before Ukai blew his whistle again. He yelled some more weirdly father-like motivation/scolding, and told them all to do suicides until the sunlight reached the black lines on the gym floor.

They all groaned of course, but no one complained after they began. The air in the room was back to its usual serious, concentrated, focused nature. Ukai, with hands on his hips, smirked at his affect on the team’s morale.

 

~~~~~

 

“Pretty good, eh?” He laughed over to Takeda. The teacher eyed him thoughtfully for a moment and then smiled, nodding as if he’d come to a resolution. The odd gesture caused Ukai step back slightly; his arms falling to his sides. “W-what? What it is? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Takeda pushed his glasses up and smiled wider. “You’ve really grown a soft spot for them, haven’t you?” He said simply and looked out towards the team. They were all building off each other’s energy as they continued to sprint from one end of the court to the net, and then back again. Tanaka had made it into a game, adding sound effects each time they all raced and touched their finger pads onto that black line.

The coach furrowed his brow and scoffed; not without blushing, however. “That’s…” He was going to say it wasn’t true, but who was he kidding. He’d grown to love those idiots and their quirks, even Tsukishima! Looking back out towards the boys—noticing Hinata and Kageyama had once again made it a competition between each other—Ukai’s expression softened. “I guess that’s what it boils down to,” He said after a moment. He then picked up his whistle again and blew into it, signaling the team to stop. They did almost instantly and most of them heaved over to press their hands against their knees and wheezed.

“Good work today, sorta,” Ukai yelled to them, “I’m gonna skip the last drill and dismiss you lot early. Use the extra time to get your acts together.” He began to walk away but then turned to add, “Don’t forget cool down stretches. Starters are on cleanup duty today too.”

The team vocalized their understanding, and then went to work. Ukai nodded and followed Takeda out of the gym. As they walked, Ukai stretched his arms out in front of him and groaned. “Wonder if mom will let me go back to sleep when I get home.”

“It might be hard now that the sun rises earlier,” Takeda added.

“I’ll find a way to sleep,” Ukai said rather proudly, to which Takeda quirked an eyebrow. He didn’t think Ukai ever slept, considering how much work he’d been putting into the team. He considered Ukai for a moment before looking forward again. The school hallways were really rather empty this early in the morning. It almost made the building seem eerie; not being filled with rambunctious teenagers would have that effect.

The two adults walked through the halls towards the teacher’s lounge. Ukai had made it a bit of a habit to walk Takeda back after morning practices. Ukai didn’t really have many friends, save for the neighborhood volleyball team he no longer had time for, so he’d at least give the kind gesture of accompanying the teacher to his office. Takeda didn’t seem to mind, and Ukai was glad to spend some time outside that sweaty gym with him. Sure, months ago he could have punched the guy, but coaching the team with him at his side was now sort of…refreshing…almost comforting.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Takeda’s voice caught Ukai by surprise and yanked him out of his reverie. The coach scratched the back of his head, snapping his headband tight against his skull again.

“R-right, see ya,” he muttered. Before he could turn to leave, however, Takeda cleared his throat and made a noise as if he was starting a sentence. Ukai’s attention kept, and he waited for the teacher to continue.

“How was your, uh, how was your date?” Takeda’s face turned pink as he spoke, and he pushed his glasses up his nose again. He shuffled nervously and stared at his feet.

Ukai had forgotten he told him about it. It was a bust anyways; a small blind date his parents had set up. She had been beautiful, Ukai could see that much, but they didn’t hit it off. The coach shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I never have fun on things like that. My parents have just been on my ass about marrying. Hell, if I brought home anyone with a pulse and told them they were my lover, my parents would be overjoyed!” He chuckled at the thought and shifted his weight.

“Would that get them off your back?” Takeda asked sincerely, his eyes staring straight into Ukai’s. It was actually a bit unsettling, and Ukai didn’t like the way Takeda’s mind worked sometimes. He was a brilliant man, but often had outlandish ideas. This was probably going to be one of them. “What if,” the teacher said after a moment, “you brought _me_ home?”

 

~~~~~

 

Back in the gym, the team was done with stretching and began to take down the nets. Even though Ukai assigned the starters to clean up, everyone stayed to help. They really didn’t have anything else to do since they still had a while before classes began for the day. So, the team lazed about their duties, and spent more time goofing off than actually cleaning.

Azumane was rolling up a net—a good replacement for wringing his hands—when Nishinoya finally came up to him. He stood next to him and simply observed his movements. This caused Azumane to become fairly robotic. His eyes darted around, hoping none of the others noticed Noya’s blatant hovering. At length, he finally gave in.

The ace turned towards his shorter teammate and shoved the net into his hands. It was sloppily folded so Nishinoya had a hard time actually holding all of it; ends and corners fell out from the heap and dragged along the floor. Nishinoya blinked up at Azumane. He made no noise of complaint, only stared up at him; patient and waiting. He had his resolve, there was no backing out now.

“F-follow me,” Azumane said in a low voice and gestured towards the supply closet. Thankfully, the rest of the team was too busy goofing off, and teasing Hinata,to notice the two had slipped away. Their voices and laughter echoed through out the gym, bouncing off the high ceiling. Hinata wasn’t one to give in to teasing, so he simply smirked and gave witty remarks right back at them. Kageyama, of course, poked fun at these comebacks just as quickly. The banter continued like this without interruption.

Azumane grabbed one of the ball carts and dragged it along with him as they passed the group and head to the other half of the gym. His grip on it was tight; knuckles whiter than ever, and his hand almost cramped by the time they got to the door. It was cracked open with a wooden door stop, so Azumane used his free hand to pull it fully open.

“So,” Nishinoya finally spoke. His voice sent Azumane’s heart racing, and he almost sent the ball cart rolling in the other direction. Luckily, some wrestling mats stopped it from moving too far. “You wanted to talk?”  

The ace puffed his cheeks and eventually let out his breath in a slow burst. He hadn’t noticed his hands were trembling before, so he pressed them against his thighs; rubbing indiscriminately. “In here,” He motioned with his chin and entered the closet. Nishinoya, struggling to use a free hand to grab the ball cart, followed silently.

Azumane walked all the way to the other end--well, as far as the piles of junk would let him--and faced the wall. His heart raced and he felt his knees getting weak. Nishinoya, still having a hard time with the net and the ball cart, finally got into the supplies closet. As he pulled the cart in, the wheel nicked the wooden doorstop. It jolted out of place and the large door promptly shut with an ominous “click” of the latch. The light, thankfully, went on automatically at their movements...but they both knew what had happened.

“Oops,” Nishinoya said without having to look behind him towards the door. He pushed the cart to the side and brought his hand back to salvage the rest of the net that was practically just a heap of knots and strings in his arms now.

Azumane, with his back to the libero, sighed and let his shoulders droop.

“Of course we’d lock ourselves in here,” the ace said in a low voice, “it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t.”

He heard Nishinoya chuckle at this, and he couldn’t help but smile a bit himself. If there was any sign that the universe wanted them to settle things once and for all, that for sure was it. Azumane felt another wave of nervousness rush through him, and he fought back the growing tightness in his chest.

Enough time had passed that one could call the situation frozen, so Nishinoya was the first to move. He walked over towards the ace and dumped the net just to his right. This caused Azumane to startle and gasp.

“Easy there,” Nishinoya said, “I’m not gonna jump you.” He held out a hand but hesitated to rest it on Azumane’s arm.

“I don’t…” Azumane finally began; his voice a low quiver, “I don’t really know where to begin.” As he spoke, he turned towards his smaller friend, and looked down at him with apologetic eyes. The supply closet was dusty, cramped, and probably not the best place for this kind of talk. But if Azumane and Nishinoya had learned anything this past week, it was timing and placement were not on their side. Ill-suited location aside, Nishinoya felt his heart throb at Azumane’s words. He licked his lips and attempted to form words. Nothing but air escaped him, and he ended up just gaping with his mouth opening and closing.

They both took a moment to internally prepare. Here they were, just the two of them, ready to pour their hearts out...but not really knowing how to go about it. After a moment, Nishinoya looked up at his team’s ace and held that eye contact. There was no way he could fight the redness on his cheeks, so he didn’t even bother. “I...have a really big crush on you.”

Azumane’s eyes widened for a moment, only to have his expression soften once again. He flattened his lips and nodded, “M-me too…” he managed to mumble out. “About y-you…”

Nishinoya perked up at this response. Good, they were making some sort of progress. Any assent from Azumane was progress...right? He couldn’t keep down his annoyance, however, it was in his nature. He waited a moment for their words to seep into air and hang there before changing his expression. Nishinoya shifted his weight and placed a hand on his hip. He narrowed his eyes up at the ace.

“Well, you sure have a shitty way of showing it,” he knew it was harsh, but he wasn’t really the type of person who had a filter. Especially with someone he was so (supposedly) comfortable with.

Azumane let out a breath, that Noya guessed was a chuckle, and nodded again. “Yeah, yeah. I suck.” He leaned back and half-sat on another ball cart that had already been in the closet. He braced his hands on either side of him--ignoring the fact that he could literally feel the dust on the metal cage. “Look, about yesterday...that was, uh, sudden.”

Nishinoya keep his eyes trained on his friend, unblinking and wide. The expression dripped of concentration and seriousness, and it was a bit out of character for the short hot-head. Azumane only let it affect him momentarily before he cleared his throat and shifted a bit.

“Th-this whole thing has been a giant mess...a-and I’m pretty sure it’s basically my fault--”

“My fault too, y’know. We’re both idiots.”

“Y-yeah, right. Uhm, okay,” Azumane felt the words slipping his tongue, but his mind was all over the place. If emotions could be tangible, he was certain they would be strangling him without mercy. His blood was sludge in his veins and his eyes suddenly felt very tired. He wanted to go home, he didn’t want to feel this way anymore.

**No.**

That wasn’t the deal he made with himself. That realization he had last night was still echoing in his brain...and they were far beyond the point of no return.

If the locked door was any hint.

“Last night, I was talking with Kou...with Sugawara, a-and I realized something.”

“And?” Nishinoya was patient, listening.

“My life has been one obstacle after another; trouble finds me no matter where I’m at. A-and I’m not complaining! I’ve accepted it, and well, I’ve...attempted to handle it, more or less. Despite all the hardships I’ve gone through so far in high school, there was always something constant. Something that I could hold on to that sort of gave me...I don’t know...solid ground? Oh G-god, sorry I’m sounding really dumb right now.”

Azumane was quickly reverting back into his shell, and Nishinoya saw this. Before the ace could move or turn away, Nishinoya leaned forward and cupped his hands over his. The action brought him close to Azumane; and the ace’s position had curled him in such a way that they could actually look eye-to-eye. They were like this for a few moments, taking in each other’s presence, growing accustomed to the lack of space between them.

The ace swallowed heavily, his adam’s apple bobbing dryly in his throat. A line of sweat trickled down the side of his face, and he twitched his lip at the feeling.

“Keep going, please.” Nishinoya darted his gaze back and forth into both of Azumane’s eyes. His expression was soft, yet filled with resolve. “I want to listen.”

“O-okay…” Azumane broke the contact and looked down at his lap--at his knees too, that Nishinoya now pressed against. “A few weeks ago, I was having a really bad day. Parent’s were riding me about Uni again, and I failed a test, and an old woman thought I was robbing her when I asked if she had dropped her train card…” His voice grew more solemn as he recounted the day.

Nishinoya quirked an eyebrow at him; not really following, but letting the ace talk nonetheless.

“Sorry, anyway...that day I went into practice with a sort of crappy mood. But, um, but you...w-well, you were there--duh--and practice was extra tough.We were all worked to the bone, so to make my day worse, I was exhausted. You, though, you,” He paused a moment to look back up at Nishinoya. Azumane smiled, and it was a bit lopsided. “You were always so motivated and excited. You always know what to say...to cheer me up, I guess. I’ve always admired that about you. In a way, I was always jealous of that side of you. I always told myself...why can’t I have that confidence too? To be honest, I really liked that about you.”

The libero’s lips parted as he studied his friend. His heart fluttered a bit too at the compliment.

“I never realized just how much I rely on you day to day...for the simplest things.” Azumane chuckled; his face hot and red despite his outward confidence. “I’m just really grateful to have you in my life, Yuu. I just don’t want anything to change between us.”

Azumane lifted his and Nishinoya’s hands and brought them between their chests. He shifted their grip so his large hands now engulfed the other’s, and he pressed them to his heart. All the while, Nishinoya’s eyes were wide and his mouth agape.

“That’s why I’m so scared about this whole thing, Yuu. You’re my closest...my best friend. What we have is so special to me and I’m afraid...I’m afraid that I’d mess it up if we change anything about it. So, I suppose that’s why I said no. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to say no, but I was...well, like I said. Afraid.”

The mood between them was turning heavy, but not in a bad way. The air in the room was filled with a feeling neither of them had experienced before; especially because they were so young. Nishinoya blinked for what seemed like minutes. His gaze drifted from Azumane to their hands and back to Azumane.

When minutes actually did begin to pass, Azumane felt a rather dreadful sense of deja vu again. “Y-you gonna say something?” He croaked.

Nishinoya, after a few more moments, finally sighed and shifted his weight again.

“Damn,” he said with a smirk, to which Azumane squinted and made a questioning expression. “I didn’t expect you to get all poetic on me.”

Azumane’s face got impossibly red and he turned his head. “Well, sorry! That’s just how I feel.”

Nishinoya laughed and loosened one of his hands from the ace’s grip. He brought it to Azumane’s chin and turned his face forward again.

He wanted to laugh and comment on the squeak that Azumane made, but instead, Nishinoya sighed and shook his head. “Asahi, listen. I’ve liked you so much for _so_ long,” he laughed, “That you could’ve just brought me in here to recite lyrics of the national anthem and my feelings would still stay the same. You’re my friend, yes, but I think we can be more than that.”

“But what if--”

“Hasn’t being on this team taught you anything? Taking risks is what gets you to move forward. If you don’t take the plunge, you’ll never know how it will turn out.”

“Y-yes, but what if--”

Nishinoya’s expression tensed, and he moved his hand up on Azumane’s face to squeeze his cheeks. “Shhh, no ‘buts,’ unless it’s my butt.”

Azumane, even with his squished lips, was able to pull of an impatient look towards the libero.

“Sorry,” Noya smirked and loosened his grip on Azumane’s cheeks. “I think we should at least try to be...s-something…”

“You aren’t afraid that what we have will be ruined by it?”

“Hell, if Sawamura and Sugawara are any example--”

“True. W-wait, you _knew_?”

“Dude,” Nishinoya dropped his hand to Azumane’s shoulder, and looked him straight in the eye. “How could I not? They are literally making goo-goo eyes at each other all the time.”

“Kinda how you were looking at me the other day.”

To that, Nishinoya’s face bloomed a deep pink and he took in a deep breath. He attempted an offended look, but it ended up just being pout.

“Regardless! I wanna know what you want to do.”

“What I want…”

“If you really, honestly don’t want to change anything--which, uh, I don’t think is possible since we kissed. Like, more than once.”

“Oh yeah,” Azumane--the giant dork--had actually forgotten about that little tidbit during his monologue. That was definitely a deal breaker with the whole ‘not wanting to lose what we have’ thing.

“Anyway, if you really don’t...I can try to pretend like none of this happened. But only if that’s what you really want.”

They both waited in silence again. They weren’t aware of how much time had actually passed. Nishinoya felt a bit of a tension in his back from leaning over for long, but he didn’t dare move.

Azumane felt that tightness in his chest move up to his throat, and he knew finally what it was. He had wanted to all this time, and finally it had gotten to a boiling point. All his life, he had put others before him. He had not wanted to cause problems, or make people uncomfortable...so he had always tried to appease everyone. But now, it was his turn. It was time for him to be brutally honest with himself; and selfish, if that’s what one could call it. The sensation warmly crawled it’s way up his chest and throat and he felt his eyes begin to burn.

“I...I want to--”

The automatic lights shut off and the two were thrown into pitch black save for the line of light seeping in from the bottom of the door. Unsurprisingly, it did not falter either of their composure. Azumane had stopped talking, but he felt Nishinoya give him a squeeze on his shoulder. It was an encouragement, just like Azumane had done on the street.

“I want to try, at least. I want to be as close to you as possible. I want...I _want_ to date you, and be able to call you mine, and do couple-y things.” He knew the tears in his eyes had spilled over and stained his cheeks, but it was dark enough that he didn’t care. “I want to hang out, and watch movies, and I want to kiss, and I wan--”

 

~~~~~

 

It was the magic word. It was more than enough, and Nishinoya took the opportunity. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Azumane’s. The small noise Azumane made upon their touch was more also more than enough to encourage the libero to shift forward. Using his hand on Azumane’s shoulder as leverage, Nishinoya pushed closer to the ace. Azumane parted his knees and Nishinoya place himself between them instantly.

Their mouths tested each other for a few moments; simply pressed against each other--softly first, then adding pressure. The kiss was tender and unsure, but it was perfect.

When they parted, Nishinoya did not pull that far away. He kept his lips close enough to Azumane’s that he could feel his breath.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly. Even with his eyes adjusting to the dark, he still had trouble seeing Azumane completely.

“I’m alright. This is good, this is okay. I’m...I want things to be this way. I think I really like kissing you though.”

Nishinoya snorted and leaned his pelvis in closer to Azumane; to which the ace gasped.

“I was talking about this,” Nishinoya lifted a hand and wiped a tear from Azumane’s cheek. He didn’t need to see it, but he knew the ace was blushing again.

“I’m happy, okay? Just...I feel like I can breathe again.”

“Me too.” Nishinoya said with confidence, and brought his lips to his once more. This kiss, having broken the seal of timidness last time, was more finite and comfortable. Nishinoya tilted his head into it, and brought his hand to the back of Azumane’s neck. His fingers twirled around the little hairs that had fallen out of the messy bun as his lips worked against the ace’s.

Softly, the kiss grew more intimate. Azumane wrapped his arms around Nishinoya and held him closer. Their lips moved together; heads bobbing into the subtle changes of direction and pressure. Their hearts were aflutter and heads were hot as they melted into each other.

Nishinoya was the first to press his tongue into the kiss, and with some hesitance from his partner, their mouths opened to one another. They felt warm and flustered as their tongues tasted and tested. Azumane felt a soft moan escape his throat, and he couldn’t help but flinch at the embarrassing noise. Nishinoya, however, found it enticing and he leaned even more forward. He wanted to press himself entirely against Azumane; to _feel_ him entirely.

This shift in weight, however, was not well taken by the wheels of the ball cart Azumane was half-sitting, half-leaning on. It gave under their weight and shifted far enough to send both of them tumbling to the floor.

Azumane fell backwards and his grip on Nishinoya hurled the smaller boy down with him. The ace, thankfully, was able to shift their movement so they fell onto a pile of wrestling mats rather than the cold cement floor. They both landed with audible gasps and groans.

“Shit,” Nishinoya said after a moment, and the lights flickered back on from their movement. Azumane lifted his head up from where he lay, and caught sight of a red-faced, panting libero. Nishinoya had his hand on his chin and idly squeezed his lower lip. “I bit my tongue,” Nishinoya continued. He was on his knees; kneeled over Azumane’s thighs.

Azumane moved to sit up, reaching out towards his smaller friend. “A-are you okay!?” His expression, almost laughably, turned horrified and worried. His face was just as flushed as Noya’s. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think to lock the wheels!”

Nishinoya swatted Azumane’s hand away, not unkindly, and smirked. “Of course you didn’t, you idiot. Nobody would have.” He leaned forward and pressed his thumb onto the corner of Azumane’s lip and wiped. “Got a bit of spit here…”

Azumane’s eyes went unbelievably wider and, he couldn’t help but fall back down onto the mat. “Literally nothing ever goes nicely, does it?”

“Nah.”

 

~~~~~

 

The door opened wide and Hinata’s voice boomed into the small supply closet. “I found them!” He called over his shoulder.

Azumane and Nishinoya froze. The color completely drained from their faces because they both knew the compromising position they were in.

“What the hell happened?” They heard Kageyama call from somewhere in the gym.

The ace and libero both darted their worried gazes and Hinata, who blinked at them as he held the door open.

“They were locked in the closet. They knocked but no one came!” The red head called over his shoulder; and the two love-birds exchanged confused glances. Hinata winked at them and yelled again. “I’m their savior! They could have starved!!”

“Whatever,” they heard Kageyama yell back.

“C’mon guys, time to get ready for class.” He said to his upperclassmen.

Azumane and Nishinoya stood up, clumsily, and both stared with slack jaws and wide eyes.

“You’re not gonna…” Nishinoya began.

Hinata kicked the wooden wedge into the door so it propped open correctly. After a moment, he looked back up at his teammates and binked. “Huh? Gonna what?”

“Tell, uh, anyone?” Azumane said while scratching the back of his head.

With that, Hinata smiled a toothy grin and practically skipped back out towards the gym.

Azumane and Nishinoya followed, slowly and a bit unsure, but thankful nonetheless.

 

~~~~~

 

The teacher’s lecture was like background noise to Azumane’s thoughts. His lips still tingled in remembrance of their actions from the morning. Truthfully, he felt like the whole thing had been a figment of his imagination. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and after a moment, he sneaked a peak at it. The text from Nishinoya confirmed that, no, he wasn’t dreaming.

_‘See you after school!’_

 The ace smiled, but still felt a twinge of nervousness and anxiety rise within him. He was honestly happy about this whole thing, but he wasn’t one to be satisfied with happiness. He’d always find something to worry about.

“You look happy,” Sugawara leaned over and whispered.

Azumane put his phone back into his pocket and shifted lower in his chair. He pressed his chin into his chest and smiled. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“You’re gonna tell me everything, right?” Suga whispered again after a moment’s pause.

Azumane felt his face heat for what felt like the thousandth time that day. “No way,” he said as he grabbed his pencil and began to pretend taking notes. “Not after that stunt you pulled on me last night.”

It was Sugawara’s turned to blush. He glanced over at Sawamura, whose forehead was pressed into his desk and fast asleep. “Sh-shut up, that was...that wasn’t my fault…”

Azumane wasn’t sure if it was the confidence of his first kinda-sorta real make out session, but he actually, honest to goodness, smirked. He tilted his head over at his light haired friend and made a smug look. “You’ll just have to play the waiting game, won’t you?”

Sugawara looked shocked for a moment, but eventually his expression melted into something of a challenge. “Huh, would you look at that. Guess Noya finally broke down your walls, after all.”

 

~~~~~

 

That night at the store did not go well. Every ding of the door had Ukai practically jumping out of his own skin. He tried to be welcoming to the customers, but each and every person who walked in morphed into Takeda in his mind.

After just a few hours of torment, Ukai finally groaned and let his head fall to the countertop.

“I had just told my team to not let anything affect their practice,” He spoke to himself. He watched his breath fog up the cold surface. “But now...the last place I want to be is that school.”

 

 

 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH HO HOOO, more subplots!! 
> 
> my tumblr is bimmykimmy. come say hi!


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